posted on Jan, 21 2011 @ 12:54 AM
I don't know what the image is, but these are my observations...
1. For time-lapse clouds to move and dissipate as shown in the video, it would take about 2 to 5 minutes in real time. Actual time would depend on the
wind speed and how far away the clouds are. The lens is not a wide angle lens. These look fairly far away, as the image is quite flat indicating a
long lens (possibly about 100mm or longer).
2. At a real-time duration of 2 minutes and a 1 frame per second lapse time, the capture would be 60 frames. At 5 minutes of real-time the capture
would be 150 frames. The playback speed of the posted video is 29.97 frames per second (about 30 fps) so that would give us a 2 to 5 second playback
length. The video as shown matches that, so the claim of a 1 fps time-lapse capture is probably correct.
3. The elongation of the object is due to the video camera shutter. This is a well documented effect. See
THIS thread for examples. Elongation can happen when the subject moves quickly in
relation to the position and angle of the lens as well as the speed of the shutter. If the JVC video camera shutter goes slightly slower than normal
in time-lapse mode, this would account for the stretching of the subject.
4. The subject appears to be moving not only bottom to top in the frame, but also towards the camera. The first frames are blurry, appearing to be
through more atmosphere, the later frames are much clearer as if the object is closer.
5. It appears as if both turns the object makes are relatively in-line with features in the clouds. This is clearest on the second turn which matches
the top tip of the triangular cloud. Cloud tops and bottoms often begin or end at altitudes coinciding with high and low pressure or where wind speeds
change in the atmosphere. That both turns are roughly even with cloud features may indicate the changes in direction are due to atmospheric pressure
or wind changes.
Conclusion: It could be a space craft or it could be a balloon. Neither is really ruled out in the video. My only advice is that when posting footage
or pictures, post only the raw imagery just as it came from the camera. Adding music, speeding up or slowing down the video, putting in text...it just
tells us that the video has been processed a lot and makes it harder to substantiate the claims. Make it simple, keep it real.