My UFO pictures - Opinions wanted

What you are probably capturing is Saturn/jupiter. The ice crystals and atmospheric disturbances along with trailing and vibration from long exposure photography, that in essence wasn't really that long in terms of taking photo's of trails and astrophotography, which I do a little. In which 2mins-1hr exposures are not uncommon.

The thermal currents around the optics/temperature change and atmospheric turbulence can make an image wobble in weird ways, as well as show up misalignment in the colour correction in optics. Especially if using zoom lenses or teleconverters and such.

Also, unless she was using remote shutter release, any vibration would be shown up greater in zoomed images. This can be from a simple tap of a foot on the ground, tug of a lead or pressing of shutter button.

I would download a program called Stellerium, input your longitude and latitude then check the sky to find the object and reference it back as it will give you up to date pretty much bang on accurate information on planets/stars/galaxy/nebula/pulsar and so on.

I'll take a bet on Saturn or Jupiter, Possibly venus or mars, but at the moment for me in the uk, those aren't all that visible at night, only early morning.

Thanks for the reply Starblazer. You do raise some good points but I don't think that's what I have. I only say this because of the distance of the object. When we got outside we could tell that it was far too close to be a star so I would asume that would eliminate a planet too. I've seen planes and military helicopters at the same altitude and distance. Besides, from what I understand planets are only visible at certain times like you said but this object consistently appeared at various times and visibly moved to the naked eye.

Just to add, we did use a remote and a 4 second timer to get clear so in no way was the camera moved during the shot

reply to post by StarblazerUK


That was going to be my next suggestion as well, to get Stellerium.

-Sho-, keep in mind that objects (especially illuminated objects) at that distance can seem deceptively close or far because there is no way for our eyes to judge the actual distance. A bright planet may look a lot closer than a dim satellite just because our brain interprets it that way.

(By the way, the exif checks and everything is just standard procedure here, don't be insulted by everyone digging into the techicals of your photos. We have to eliminate the obvious possibilities quickly. We're on your side, all just trying to get to the bottom of it.)

I think we have established that the photos themselves aren't fake, at least in my opinion.

A few more questions on the movement in the photos:

Was there any wind that night that may have shook the camera a bit?

I know you took these in the middle of the night but will ask anyway, was there any kind of road traffic that could have vibrated the camera? I know that large trucks passing my place will rattle the old windows sometimes.

I didn't check back through the entire thread but I believe you said you saw this object move yourself correct? If so that rules out my ideas.

reply to post by EsSeeEye


Thanks man. I know you guys are only trying to get to the bottom of it, I don't hold it against you
It's just slightly annoying for me because I know they're genuine and I really want to get to the bottom of what it is, not how it came to be.

I might try and look at this Stellerium later today. Hopefully it's not too resource heavy as my hard drive is already fit to burst! Although I'm pretty certain it wasn't a planet or even a satellite. I understand what you're saying.... but I'm positive that's not it. Maybe Stellerium will confirm this.

reply to post by tsawyer2


It was a very calm night wind wise. Plus, the camera was fixed to a very solid tripod.

Like I said, at the rear of the property there was only a massive field, woodland and walking trails. There was a road at the front of the property but at that time of night you wouldn't get any traffic. It was a quiet little village.

And yes, I did say that the object moved to the naked eye which is what prompted us to take the pictures in the first place

I just remembered that there were a few sightings in the town that actually made the local papers. There was one that sounded a lot like the one I witnessed but I can't find that one. But here's a couple of others, just to show that there were some questionable objects in the skies.

www.aeroplanes.org...
www.wigantoday.net...

And also, trying to gauge the distance of the object I would say that it seemed to be over a country park manor called Haigh Hall. We used to go walking our dog down there. Not sure if that has any meaning but I'll link that too

www.wlct.org...