Ufo photograph from hawaii 12-28-08

This appears to be an original JPEG image, not photoshopped as far as I can see.
Funny how you guys all see a beetle or bird. Can you find a picture of a similar Hawaiian beast? Thin wings, darker at tips. Weird body shape. Hmmm.

reply to post by fooffstarr

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agree.

fooffstar, for some reason your avatar thread discussion isn't working...really want to tell you how I feel about your avatar!

reply to post by fooffstarr

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Thats a very good suggestion. That would much better explain the shape of the body and the wings.

Excellent.

Edit to ad a picture of a beetle with outspread wings.

wwwdelivery.superstock.com...

[edit on 13-1-2009 by Illusionsaregrander]

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander

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This may be a stupid question, but if the object in the OP's image is a beetle, wouldn't the wings be flapping so fast that they would only appear as a blur?

Edit to add that I think this may be either a model airplane or a flying kite.
Just my suggestions, of course.


[edit on 13/1/09 by ziggystar60]

Not a stupid question at all.

Looking at the EXIF data it was taken at 1/1362th of a second at an aperture of f/5.5 and a 34mm focal length (35mm film equiv. focal length 6mm with sensor size taken into account). I suspect that is close to the "hyper focal" distance of the camera lens at that focal length. I may be wrong without doing the math, and examining the specifications of the camera.

At the hyper focal length of the lens the implication would be that everything would be sharp from at about a meter away to infinity, that can be captured at 1/1362th of a second (within the resolution of the sensor). I think that's a short enough time to capture a bugs wings flapping fairly close (around 1m +-33cm) to the camera.

With regards of the graduation in the colour of the wings, I suspect this may be because of the limits of the camera's processing of the image. In order to record the slight difference in exposure of the wings versus the sky it has darkened the edges and the density of that darkening increases towards the tips. Effects such as that are commonly referred to as 'aliasing' and it's surprisingly common in all digital photographic formats.

The big picture looks like it has been photoshopped to be honest. Was this picture taken from inside a car our out but at a jaunty angle.

IMO, it looks like a Trike Glider (or ultralight trike) en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by jackphotohobby

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Thank you for your explanation, I appreciate it very much. (And it also teaches me to pay more attention to EXIF data!)

So it seems the beetle theory may be the one closest to the truth, at least with the information available at this point.



Edit to add that GEL's photo also is interesting as a possible explanation. Thanks for posting it!

[edit on 13/1/09 by ziggystar60]

Its definitely a bird! I cant believe its being debated what this is. Its a bird flying away from the camera and the light plus the motion makes the wings look transparent.

Edit to add: after looking at the original I would say it could be some kind of a bug and the "bird" to the right is in fact a fly. The middle bird is a bird

[edit on 13-1-2009 by Waldy]

Right on about the fast exposure capturing the wings in detail.

It looks to me like the darker wing tips are a result of the warping of the wings that occurs during flight. The wing ends are seen more "edge-on" so the light isn't passing directly through the transparent membrane and thus appear darker.

As for the exact species of beetle, it's hard to say as we can't determine the size from the photo. Some sort of lady beetle could fit the bill but this is definitely some kind of beetle.

But Im also leaning towards a little bird...




[edit on 1/13/2009 by greeneyedleo]

Its a bird.

Magpie maybe judging by the colour, don´t know if you get these in Hawaii but I´m sure theres other weird and wonderful birds with similar colours.

Don't you know that around here a bird is an alien spacecraft until proven otherwise? That's just logical!

Or it could be a Fairy Tern which is all over Hawaii:


So if you imagine this bird with its rear towards you....

[edit on 1/13/2009 by greeneyedleo]

My guess is hang glider heading into teh sun. Were there large cliffs behind you where they took the picture?

Serious hang gliders tuck their feet into a sleeve to reduce wind drag. That's really what I'd say this is.

Nice pic just the same

I will reserve judgement until Internos has a go at it, for I have seen few birds or beetles with what appears to be a straight-edged delta wing with sharp,clear edges at 400% magnification;

unless of course it is a penguin riding on a delta wing glider; for the wings do appear to be sharp and equilateral when magnified.


just my opinion, of course. Internos?

The chances of it being either a hang glider or a trike are remote. I have a lot of experience with both and have a hard time trying to figure out what angle of view would present the appearance of anything like what appears in the photo.

The thought of some other type of ultralight crossed my mind but I don't know about any that look like that. I get the impression that it is a small object, fairly close to the camera. Bird or bug is my best guess.

reply to post by ziggystar60

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I agree with the other poster, not a stupid question at all.

When beetles fly, the hard shell part doesnt "flap" it spreads out so that the actual wings, (those delicate translucent parts) have room to do their thing. They are what flap.

That hard outer shell part then closes over the wings again when the beetle lands and the beetle sort of tucks them back under the shell so they are protected from damage as the beetle trundles along doing beetle things on the ground.

Edit to add;
The above observation does not mean it is a beetle, only that it could be one.

[edit on 13-1-2009 by Illusionsaregrander]