Example: It's a UFO!!! or is it?

Mods, If I've put this in the wrong place I apologize. Please feel free to move as appropriate.


I know that those who post photos and videos claiming "It's a UFO!" are certain in their own minds that it is. However, just because an object can't be identified does not make it a UFO.

My husband took these photos on May 11, 2009. ( I know, the exif data says otherwise but his camera date was not set. I have the surrounding photos of a smoldering house fire both before and after these shots and the date I give is correct.)

He and I have gone over and over what the object in them could be. He swears it's a UFO and I say it's an unknown. I know that the photos were taken facing the south east (mountain is SE of us) but I'm unsure the time stamp is accurate. I don't know exactly where the sun was during the photos. The last four photos were taken nearly overhead. The object is definitely reflective but below the clouds... therefore too small to be a plane. I doubt that it's a helicopter since the Fuji could easily have photographed it clearly and has done.

I don't know what the images are but I won't declare them UFO since they aren't close enough to see detail. The skeptic in me simply won't let the believer in me flat out state this is UFO.

I've shared these photos with someone else for a fresh eye on them, and they are now here for all of you to pick apart. BTW the first two photos are there for reference to the thinner streaks in the last four which are higher in the sky.

My feelings aren't easily hurt so have at it . Images are untouched and exif data is intact for anyone wishing that info.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e648463ff125.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2ac9ea2118cd.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b1f191925e3b.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e4f582ffa2fd.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/227647a3b9c4.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/57f658fcf5f4.jpg[/atsimg]

Venus maybe?

I hear that Venus is visible at some points/times of the day.

Just my guess though.


EDIT:typo

EDIT@: I downloaded 2 of the photos, blowing them up and looking closer the pixelation of that area doesn't seem to flow with the rest of the photo.

[edit on 7/6/2010 by ThaLoccster]

[edit on 7/6/2010 by ThaLoccster]

reply to post by SeenMyShare


Third picture down. Blow it up really rather large. Can someone explain to me the process by which, those weird circular looking shadows are created around the double light source? I'm assuming the double light is down to a little camera shake? Is that the reason for the curious black circles as well. It would be useful to know for future reference if it's just an artifact, or is that something a little stranger?

there isn't enough detail to identify ...

the areas around the object are most likely
Compression artifacts





[edit on 6-7-2010 by Zeta Reticulan]

It's a white speck.

It's hard to say what it is as it's so far away. Did you actually see it or was it something that you noticed while looking at your pics? If you saw it was it moving, doing anything out of the ordinary or was it stationary?

I don't know. On one hand I'd be excited to catch something I couldn't explain on film. On the other hand though I've seen so many light in the sky pics over the years it's almost impossible to get excited over any of them anymore.

Well good luck anyway, I hope you get some answers.

One thing i would say about UFO pics etc. I picked up a brand new never used Sony Pro CRT monitor for about 50 quid/ 70 bucks. its a 21 inch CRT that would have cost about a 1000 when it was the top monitor. The picture quality, even on blow ups, is absolutely amazing. Those black circles are quite plain on my monitor at that size using Irfan as the viewer, it's a freebie.

reply to post by FireMoon


I see em too

en.wikipedia.org...



[edit on 6-7-2010 by Zeta Reticulan]

reply to post by ThaLoccster

I thought about that... but in the third picture down it "looks" like it's in front of the clouds. If it's in front of the clouds it's pretty small. We are in the turn around for Dulles here and we photograph a lot of planes. They are easy to identify. We have a guy on the next road over who has a homemade helicopter and a huey. They are easy to identify too. This one stumps me.

The clouds move from west to east here so in the pictures the clouds would be moving from right to left. I didn't take the photos, my husband did, and yes he saw the lights.

reply to post by zetamafia911

LOL actually I agree with you . It looks like a white speck to me. I didn't get all excited about them like my husband did because I can't see anything!
Thanks for your input.

Originally posted by Zeta Reticulan

there isn't enough detail to identify ...

the areas around the object are most likely
Compression artifacts

Yes that's exactly what compression artifacts look like. There may be ways to avoid this. My camera has a choice of storing images as .bmp or as .jpg. The first format is lossless, and will have no compression artifacts, the second format does have compression artifacts.

But ATS won't let you upload uncompressed photos like BMP. There is a solution though. Take the photos in BMP fomat, then if you convert them to .png format, you will not find this same kind of compression artifacts like you see in jpg photos, because png is a lossless compression format, unlike jpg. And ATS will allow you to upload the png photos because they are compressed.

[edit on 7-7-2010 by Arbitrageur]

could be a satellite reflecting a low sun?
I don't know though...

reply to post by Arbitrageur


Husband's camera was only a Fuji Finepix s5100, not the greatest of cameras for features. It didn't have raw or bmp capabilities. He now has a Canon : ).

I wish I had seen this because my camera will shoot in RAW and it has a telephoto lens.

Could be something mundane, but one thing I'm sure of is it's relatively small.

The object is nearly stationary since the clouds are moving east. It might be a satellite but that doesn't explain why the clouds "look like" they are behind the object in the first picture.

I'm going to try to overlay those photos onto each other and match up the clouds. I'll post the results here.

I've taken the three images, circled the "light" and marked portions of the clouds that were easy to identify. I layered them together and made them visible through each other. The clouds are moving right to left (west to east as they always do here) so the "light" may be stationary. I could be a satellite but I see the light below the cloud in the close up (also inset).

I'm guessing daylight satellite in lieu of a better explanation. Can anyone tell me where to find historical satellite flyover info?

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/830b22e75dda.jpg[/atsimg]

Originally posted by SeenMyShare
I've taken the three images, circled the "light" and marked portions of the clouds that were easy to identify. I layered them together and made them visible through each other. The clouds are moving right to left (west to east as they always do here) so the "light" may be stationary. I could be a satellite but I see the light below the cloud in the close up (also inset).

I'm guessing daylight satellite in lieu of a better explanation. Can anyone tell me where to find historical satellite flyover info?

This is the site I use but it's a little tricky to enter the date and location information. You have to go into configuration and enter your observing site. I don't know what that is so I can't do it for you. It also looks like sunrise or sunset but I don't know which.

www.heavens-above.com...

If it wasn't moving I would guess possibly Venus, if the elongated image was due to camera shake.

Since I don't have your info I just entered Los Angeles, and 0600 hours on May 11, 2009 as an example and you can see the positions of Mars, Venus and Jupiter in the sky map:

www.heavens-above.com...

Try entering your own location and see if it might be Venus.

The historical skymaps showing planets are easily accessible. Historical satellite locations are another matter, that site gives current and future satellite locations though.

[edit on 7-7-2010 by Arbitrageur]

Of Course its a UFO. UFO does not mean Extra terrestrial. It means simply that you eye have caught something wich it can not identify. Why even doubt its a ufo? Do you know exactly what it is? If not..its a UFO

reply to post by Arbitrageur


I've U2U'd you my general location, the date and approximate time. I tried to use the site you sent me to but was not able to figure out how to input a different date.

Originally posted by SeenMyShare
reply to post by Arbitrageur

 

I've U2U'd you my general location, the date and approximate time. I tried to use the site you sent me to but was not able to figure out how to input a different date.

When you click the link that says "whole sky chart" it prompts you for the date, here's what it looks like. I put in 9AM since you said between 8-10am.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/64df5a15949a.png[/atsimg]

As you can see you have to scroll down to find the place to input the time.

An hour earlier or later will only move that chart 1/24th of a circle so Venus would still be visible at either extreme of the time range you stated, but you can plug those times in to see how much it changes, it won't change much in 1 hour.

Notice that East and West are reversed from a ground map because you hold this map up over your head to use it, so imagine you printed it out and are holding the sheet of paper over your head and all the directions should line up then....

So was Venus in the general direction of your photos--Southeast at a little more than halfway between straight up and the southeast horizon? (about 50 degrees above the SE horizon I'd guess, where 90 degrees would be straight up, and slightly more south than east if it was at 9AM). If so, I wouldn't be surprised if that could be Venus in your photo.

By the way, it's largely believed that the UFO seen by former president Jimmy Carter may have also been Venus so your husband is in good company if that's what it is. An astonishing number of UFO reports result from Venus so it's really nothing unusual.

[edit on 7-7-2010 by Arbitrageur]

reply to post by Arbitrageur


Amazing thank you! Yes, it most likely was Venus given it's location on the star map! I did not realize that it was that visible even on a semi cloudy day!

I love to learn new things and I've learned several with this thread.

Thank you all for your input and my education!