Somebody with computer imaging analyzis skills please tell me what this is

This object has been in my local area for over a year. It is not out every night but it is always in the same area of the sky. I have never seen it leave or arrive. It is usually accompanied by smaller moving lights and spuratic large flashes of light. I have no idea how to go about doing this and it is driving me crazy as to what it could be. Also note that I took the pictures with my phone, and said phone can not capture a single star on film and this is why I am leaning towards it being some craft of some sort.

I have seen many threads where people have outstandingly analyzed the objects in pictures and am simply hoping that someone can do the same for me.s1242.photobucket.com...

I think I linked the photos correctly but if not, then someone please let me know what to do. Thank you for taking time to look at these for me.

You will notice the object in question should be in the center of each photo.

reply to post by Timical


It's literally impossible to tell, The pictures are so small and Pix-elated that zooming in and trying to focus on the object to get any idea of what it actually is, is extremely difficult

I cant seem to view them at a size decent enough to even see any detail.

EDITidnt see you took these with a phone.


Best of luck on identifying. Try and get some larger pics next time, will be waiting.

Direction would be helpful. also time, distance from the horizon etc

I'm going with Venus right now as it is the brightest and triggers most "sightings"

reply to post by woogleuk


Direction: I live in St. Petersburg, Fl. and its North West of my house which faces North.
Time: Well, it was out roughly 30 minutes ago, which is why I just posted this thread, but I just went back out and it is gone. It also moves across the sky but not in relation to any other astral bodies which is why I also believe it is a craft and also not Venus. Plus it is out in the same part of the sky all through out the year and does not seem to move from this area(North West of me) at any time. It is always in this part of the sky regardless of the season.

Blasts! Someone tell me how to get a better picture PLEASE. I just thought someone would be able to enlarge it with whatever tools they be using.

I know you can not tell, but in one of the pictures it is clear that this object has multiply light sources which is why it has peaked my interests.

Also, if you would like you can U2U me your number( I know it sounds crazy) and I can send it via multimedia picture to your phone and then maybe someone will have a better way of analyzing it.

reply to post by Timical


It sounds like you're really trying here... What kind of phone do you have, specifically?? Maybe there is something I or others can suggest for config or an App that will improve what you're getting. I'm curious to see more, personally.

Also.. any other camera? anything? The best here would be a raw file..but first things first for figuring out your options for hardware?

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


It is a MetroPCS Huawei.

My wife has a camera that she is messing with right now. She says I could not use it before because it was full.

the same thing we have in east texas....
out in the piney woods ...especially at three in the morning...

3.2 MP Camera... That isn't horrible... Android O/S and I have a Winphone. Who might know the best Camera app for the Android on taking a pic like this? Someone on here must have a personal favorite of their own... It is ATS after all.

reply to post by Timical


I'm in the UK, so not familiar with your area, but given it is 3:25am here I guess you are 22:25pm?

Anyway, half an hour ago Venus would have been just above the horizon and visible to you in t hat direction, and now it will have disappeared, so it is the most likely candidate. Not ruling it out as fact, but it makes sense.

Your view according to stellarium roughly half an hour ago.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


So my wife just deleted three pictures, so there should be some space now. The object is not back yet, but I guarantee it will be back in the coming days. It is usually out at least three nights of the week so it should not be too hard to get a picture of with the camera. Also it is a Sony Cyber-shot 10.1 megapixel camera. I am so excited right now.

reply to post by woogleuk


The object is also higher up in the sky. Closer to the object marked Pollux. It has dissappeared, however, I do not see how it could have in roughly 30 minutes given how high it was in the sky. Thank you for your input.

reply to post by Timical

Great on the Sony Cyber-Shot. That should get some real quality shots to work with. The most critical thing about it is setting image quality. Make sure you go into the menu and set "Mode" to "Raw". It's going to make a big file, but that is what will give people enough to work with to pull detail and see what is there. Also, set Quality to the highest number. 10, should be the one.

The rest is in U2U....

^^ The above is from what I've been doing in one of my classes all semester with digital photography and imaging. Anyone taking pics like this, if the camera is the kind which supports it, setting RAW mode makes all the difference for having something to work with. Jpg just doesn't have resolution...

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I can not figure out where to set it to "raw" and as for image size it is on 10M for prints up to A3+(13X19") whatever that means. I believe that is what you are talking about.

I just went through all of the menu options and could not locate anything labeled "raw". Is there something specific it should be or another name it could be listed as?

if i had the skill i help

Okay, I dropped more detailed info about your model in U2U, but to follow up in general, it's Jpg only. A very high quality Jpg, but Jpg at 10mp. With that, it's just critical to max the little list on the menu for quality level. As high a number as it has. It'll make a few mb worth of file. Then just make sure everything is shooting auto mode unless sure about what settings do what. It'd be terrible to have a unique, once time shot go bad from a manual setting change that blacked or whited the frame.

I'm no expert, just what I said above. If someone who is a lot further into the field than I am right now can offer more, I'll be happy to learn too!

For low light, it helps to adjust your ISO setting to a higher level - flash will not be of any use in this kind of setting either.

Also, if the camera has 'automatic' for the shutter, there may be a long exposure time, causing blurred pictures unless camera is steady, like on a tripod.

Adjusting the ISO setting will help to keep the exposure times shorter, but will add some 'noise' to the data as well. The most common setting for ISO is usually 400.

If said object has been there a year, why the special occassion now to photograph it??

reply to post by explorer14


For nightime with short exposure he really needs ISO 800-3200 if his camera supports it, most modern cameras can compensate for noise up to about 1600, but for the sake of what we need from him, I don't think a little noise will hurt.

reply to post by woogleuk


Yes, I agree, the noise shoudn't be a big deal at this point, but it should help in setting up the camera for these types of shots, especially in absence of a tripod or other stabalizing setup. For the 400 ISO setting I was simply referring to what one could expect to find in the default setting, rather than that being the one to use for night shots.