3-Spoked UFO photographed by STS-115! The Smoking Gun?

Unfortunately, though this vid has been doing the rounds on the net, I have been unable to find any explanations for the appearance of a strange bright 3-spoked object following the external tank. The object can be clearly seen on the bottom right corner of the screen between 26 and 33 secs into the vid.

Here’s a frame grab of the object:



And here’s the original clip from the NASA web site (You require Windows Media Player or you can check it out on You Tube, below):

spaceflight.nasa.gov...



Any ideas what that object could be? For those who say it’s an ice crystal, think again as this one has three sides or spokes. Ice crystals are hexagonal. The commentator doesn't mention anything about the appearance of this object or what it could be, unlike the reference to the external fuel tank.

Cheers!

Wow its like the UFO is guiding the shuttle down to Earth with some invisible force.. or its just watching , either way awesome footage. The Aliens must think we are crazy dropping from such heights.

reply to post by mikesingh


Looks like a reflection of light from the view port, behind the camera operator.

reply to post by mikesingh


Thats an interesting vid. I have no idea what that could be.

I must add That I find myself not looking at "smoking gun" vids here much anymore.
I had to look at this one because I saw that it was from Mike.
Smoking gun? I don't know, but thanks for posting it. Standing by for I predict, a loooong thread.

Peace

Well just to throw this in, yes ice crystals are hexagonal, but from individuall crystals, various shapes can be created.

Well just to throw this in, yes ice crystals are hexagonal, but from individuall crystals, various shapes can be created.

reply to post by mikesingh


Looks to me like it has the appearance of a 3 dimensional object, and not an ice crystal.

If you look at the 'leg' on the right side of the object and follow the leg towards the central mas, you'll see that the leg appears to widen gradually and it also seems to merge upwards into the the central mass.

You'll notice that the top edge of this merging leg is the same(similar) brightness as the 'dome' of the central mass. The edge on the leg also has a shadow which indicates, to me, part of a 3d structure.

I can only suggest we have lost a lot of detail through pixelation, atmosphere, clouds and daylight, both direct and reflected.

I'm sorry I dont have applications with which to edit and highlight the exact point i mean.

It looks like it has been 'added' in looks sorta like a southpark animation if you know what i mean, but is that just because of the vid quality or what? dam i wish these videos where high def, it will be good when higher quality cameras become more mainstream and uploadable, you never ever see a video in full mint quality it never happens. When it does and you can zoom in enough to see the aliens in the cockpit etc i think that will be the 'smoking gun' everyone is looking for.

I'm gonna go with reflection and here's why. The object appears to go through the same rotation as the external tank. I would expect the perceived spatial rotation to not be identical. If it were a craft, it probably couldn't be that synched up with the tank.

Originally posted by mikesingh
I have been unable to find any explanations for the appearance of a strange bright 3-spoked object following the external tank.

To me, it really doesn't seem like the object is following the external tank at all, it seems like the tank is just passing by it, and the two objects travel at different speed.

Could the triangular looking object be a satellite or a piece of space debris? Just a suggestion, there are after all quite a few objects floating around up there...

The United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN) has been tracking space objects since 1957 when the Soviets opened the space age with the launch of Sputnik I. Since then, the SSN has tracked more than 26,000 space objects orbiting Earth. The SSN currently tracks more than 8,000 man-made orbiting objects

en.wikipedia.org...

Looks like a lens flare to me.

reply to post by ziggystar60


Interesting aside... Theres a belief that one of those objects is something not too disimilar to a man hole cover.During an underground nuclear test (cant remember where in the world) a solid iron cover over a mineshaft was blown skyward at a rate which observers surmised could have allowed it to attain escape velocity lol... wierd crap up there eh ?

If someone tried to dismiss it as ice crystal then he should stop hitting the bottle, because what we see is clearly something else. But i wouldn't rule out the reflection Mike, the way it appears into the field of sight is consistent with a reflection, not to mention the exact same speed of the shuttle: when this case was discussed first, i remember to have tried to find some component shaped like that, but found nothing. This case falls into the "unexplained" basket in my humble opinion, and don't forget that during the same mission was spotted this

and this

Following the interviews, the crew continued their preparations for re-entry by stowing unnecessary equipment and other tasks prior to landing. However, the crew informed the Mission Control Center later in the day that, following the test of the reaction control system, an object was seen moving in a co-orbital path with the Orbiter. The astronauts spotted the object using an on-board TV camera, but unfortunately the resolution of the images were not high enough to identify the object.

The images were sent down to the MCC for further analysis by flight controllers, who were concerned about the possibility that the object may have come off Atlantis, and as such wished to identify the object. The most likely scenario was that the object was benign, such as ice or a piece of shimstock (observed earlier in the flight protruding from the heat shield) that may have shaken loose.[39] However, the possibility remained that the object may be of critical importance, such as a tile from the Orbiter's thermal protection system.

As such, the Mission Control Center asked Atlantis' crew to power up the shuttle's robotic arm ready to reinspect the orbiter, and drew up plans for a series of tests which took place on flight day 12 to determine whether or not the shuttle was safe for re-entry. This extra inspection, added to poor weather forecasts predicted for the Shuttle Landing Facility for Wednesday, meant that the de-orbit burn and landing were delayed by a day.

STS 115

in the second case they were concerned because an object orbiting exactly like the shuttle could be some debris coming from the shuttle.

All in all we have three unexplained cases: STS 115 was NOT a boring mission Thanks for sharing Mike

Do you notice how, if you compare the UFO to the tank, it seems like it is an extremely small object as if viewed close up?

Not trying to be a "debunker" but the scale just looks - - weird - - when compared to watching the fuel tank fall and this thing appear briefly.

No clue what it could be.

The object appears to be a reflection of the interior flood light, which is directly behind the view port. These shots are usually filmed through the flight deck "window" directly above and behind the cockpit.

In any case, the 'glass' used for these windows are comprised of multiple layers. That considered any sort of light caught in it will look pretty much the same - whether it's from the interior or even sunlight reflecting directly off the shuttle itself.

It is not an ice particle or an object between the shuttle and the jettisoned tank. In all likelihood it is a light artifact of either the camera lens or the window itself.


[edit on 24-3-2009 by LogicalResponse]

It looks to me as if the camera is tracking inside a perspex dome and the "UFO" could be a crack or chip on the dome which is catching the light. Instead of the object apearing to move into the frame of a stationary camera it is the opposite. A moving camera capturing a stationary object. I don't know if the camera is mounted in a dome or behind glass but this is just what it looks like to me.

[edit on 24-3-2009 by RE2505]

reply to post by internos

Hey internos! Long time no see! Where the devil have you been hiding?

Yep! There have been a number of anomalous objects seen during the STS-115 mission. Here's a good vid of an object photographed during orbit...



Remember those donuts in a previous thread of mine? But this could probably be a rotating ice cube. Darned if I know for sure!

And here’s a pretty amazing vid from Metacafe, a NASA briefing on the STS-115 mission. Listen in to what one of them says to a question by a reporter from ABC News regarding the clip of three anomalous objects that were photographed during the flight. His reply: ‘It’s very hard to identify what those things may be.’

And another one says: “If we don’t see anything anomalous…then they’ll land tomorrow”.

Now what the heck did that mean? As we now know, the landing of the space shuttle was delayed as cameras in the payload bay sighted a mystery object flying alongside the Atlantis. This prompted ground controllers to delay the landing preparations. (Video above).

Here’s the vid of the NASA briefing with the later half showing three more mysterious objects photographed by the shuttle. Ice/dust/space debris? Or is there more than meets the eye here?

www.metacafe.com...

Cheers!

to me it looks like, one of the "legs" of the object goes under a cloud for a brief moment, anyone else seeing that?

[edit on 24-3-2009 by SiivZ]

The object seems to follow the movement of the camera.
When the camera shakes and moves top-left, so does the
object. So it does seem to be some kind of light reflection.

The only thing that I can't explain is why it rotates counter-clockwise.

Either way, I always look forward to your posts Mike!