Sorry if this is a repeat. I didn't read through the whole thread, but I wanted to ring in here with my first impressions.

The first thing that struck me was the light formation around what appears to be a solid object. The lights give me the distinct impression that the object is cylindrical, with the lights wrapping around in a spiral pattern, like the stripes on a candy cane.

But why would the object rest at such a pitched angle? I say "rest" because a long exposure would not have been so clear if the object had been in motion.

I would put $100 on it being a plane as it looks identical to what my friend was snapping on his camera on the bus home from Sydney last night. He wasn't sure what it was at first and then I looked up where he took the picture and pointed out the plane and so he did another long exposure shot and it turned out it was a plane.

I will see if I can get the pictures (I think when he realized they were a plane he deleted them but I'm not sure).

Originally posted by internos
In my humble opinion the plane explanation is the one that makes more sense, the lights match 100% FAA configuration.

[edit on 2/7/2008 by internos]

okay latecomers?

Well to be fair if this is plane, surely it would be pretty easy to recreate the image?

Anyone wanna give it a go?

I set out to prove that it was a plane by using calculation using known airplane's average speed and height. I made the mistake of assuming the moon and the airplane was up high in the sky which in fact they were close to the horizon. So the airplane may be going or coming creating perspective effect so the angle is smaller.

Case closed... no?

During the exposure the Earth has turned slightly on its axis. So the stars create what appears to be a short line. Given enough time the line would look curved. The farther from the pole the greater the effect.

Edit: Example



[edit on 7/3/2008 by roadgravel]

If this is a plane shouldn't the lights have streaked even to some degree?

Also, viewing the photo, the lights are separate colors. The far left of the rectangle has a red light, followed by two white lights, followed by two blue lights. This pattern repeats as:

Red, White x2, Blue x2
Red, White x2, White x2
Red, White x2, White x2
Red, White, White


Why do we see only one pair of blue lights?


Also, since the image was determined to have been rotated, when we place it back into it's original setting, we find that the object itself is either ascending or decending at a fairly sharp angle, is this possible for a conventional craft?


Awesome pic either way, but very curious about the discrepencies. Does anyone here have any idea what they might be caused by?

Looks pretty interesting, but like others have said, without a point of reference, it could be a simple airplane.

Originally posted by Taj Mikel
Why do we see only one pair of blue lights?

To explain that, you must understand that for every second the camera shutter is open (exposure), the camera is layering another layer of light on top of the last.

Look at this image:


1,2,3,4 indicates the 4 second exposure time. The camera started capturing at 1, and the very last capture was at 4. So the jet was traveling from top to bottom.

Right after the 1st second of exposure, and during the 2nd second of exposure, light was layered on top of the blue lights on the 1st second blue lights. Then after the 2nd second, and during the 3rd second, light was layered on top of the 1st and 2nd section of blue lights. Then during the 4th second of exposure, light was layered on top of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sections. Since the camera stopped at the 4th section, no light was layered on the 4th section.

Every time a layer of light is added, it takes away color, and turns reddish/white. So the lights that are supposed to be blue, they actually were blue, but because of the exposure time, it turned the blue into reddish white color.

Originally posted by Taj Mikel
Also, since the image was determined to have been rotated, when we place it back into it's original setting, we find that the object itself is either ascending or descending at a fairly sharp angle, is this possible for a conventional craft?

When you watch an aircraft fly away from you, it appears the aircraft is going down. When the aircraft is really high in the sky, and it is flying away from you, it will look like the image in the OP. This is because the Earth is round.

Hope that helps.

[edit on 3-7-2008 by ALLis0NE]

Originally posted by Lee_K
Well to be fair if this is plane, surely it would be pretty easy to recreate the image?

Anyone wanna give it a go?

If you do a simple Yahoo/Google Image search ("long exposure plane" or something like that) you will see plenty of photos that match this. But it would be nearly impossible to get an exact match.






[edit on 3-7-2008 by greeneyedleo]

Originally posted by ALLis0NE

Originally posted by Taj Mikel
Why do we see only one pair of blue lights?

To explain that, you must understand that for every second the camera shutter is open (exposure), the camera is layering another layer of light on top of the last.

Look at this image:

1,2,3,4 indicates the 4 second exposure time. The camera started capturing at 1, and the very last capture was at 4. So the jet was traveling from top to bottom.

Right after the 1st second of exposure, and during the 2nd second of exposure, light was layered on top of the blue lights on the 1st second blue lights. Then after the 2nd second, and during the 3rd second, light was layered on top of the 1st and 2nd section of blue lights. Then during the 4th second of exposure, light was layered on top of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sections. Since the camera stopped at the 4th section, no light was layered on the 4th section.

Every time a layer of light is added, it takes away color, and turns reddish/white. So the lights that are supposed to be blue, they actually were blue, but because of the exposure time, it turned the blue into reddish white color.

Originally posted by Taj Mikel
Also, since the image was determined to have been rotated, when we place it back into it's original setting, we find that the object itself is either ascending or descending at a fairly sharp angle, is this possible for a conventional craft?

When you watch an aircraft fly away from you, it appears the aircraft is going down. When the aircraft is really high in the sky, and it is flying away from you, it will look like the image in the OP. This is because the Earth is round.

Hope that helps.

[edit on 3-7-2008 by ALLis0NE]

Ah, that it does. Thank you much, AllisONE. It's amazing to me how a photo of a jet can end up looking that much different from what I would expect Good learnings, though. Thanks again!

its probably just the moon base.

So this is supposed to be a shot of a UFO on a maxxum sensor...

4.0 second shutter release @ F/5.6

I'd like to see a comparison on fringing, chromatic aberration, and detail capture from the lens that was used, if it was using a high aperture like 5.6, everything should be nice and tack-sharp (depending on the quality of the glass) but if it's a closed max. aperture, such as 3.5 or 4 then 5.6 wouldn't result in adequate sharpness to keep all those lights in perfect focus, even at infinity MF setting.

Secondly, the image was taken at four seconds... try photographing any light at four seconds with your dSLR and see what happens to the trails. If this object is truly a UFO, it's gotta be pretty bloody still and the camera has to absolutely be mounted on a tripod, I don't know any amateurs whom can shoot that steady without a set of sticks.

I'm a believer, but I've got my skepticals on for this one.