Homemade UFO Detection and Recording Gizmos

not anonymous
Good idea. Spectral analysis is a valuable tool for this type of research. We would probably be surprised at how many "UFOs" were using incandescent light bulbs if we were implementing it more. The 3 inch telescope on my system does some basic spectral analysis but is mainly designed for waveform analysis. I haven't implemented a camera with a diffraction grating.

[edit on 4-3-2009 by dainoyfb]

[edit on 4-3-2009 by dainoyfb]

Someone wanted to see airborne objects from the thermal imager. These are not pretty but they are all I have on hand at the moment. The conditions were really poor. They are commercial jets at their service altitudes. One at night and one during the day. The one at night was completely invisible to the naked eye. Now that I have the telescope running in tandem with the thermal imager I'll be able to couple video from the two together.





Raw Images

I'd like to see some normal daylight video through that scope if possible. What is the effective magnification range that you can film?

Another useful objective would be to identify a few models of webcam/digicam/camcorders that are plentiful, cheap, easily modded and with a focus on decent sensors and optics. The kind of gear that ends up on ebay by the thousands and can be made effective with little up-front costs. Wide availability of cheap sensors when coupled with a easily followed how-to guide written by an expert or advanced amateur could yield a lot of interest and participation from casual hobbyists.

I'm aware of software such as UFOCapture but is there mature software for linux that would be easily adaptable to a purpose like this?

Beyond pure detection gear I thought I might shoehorn a tangent idea into this thread. This is that original, unprocessed, uncompressed recordings should be cryptographically signed and timestamped by the originator and made available on a public torrent network. Any researcher in the world should be able to have a copy of the unaltered footage and be assured that it is the same that the originator possesses, or at least claims to possess. This does not prevent fraud but would restrict it to the originator. It would be a positive step towards a virtual chain of custody for digitized visual evidence. This is another technical capability that has only recently become practical and one that has not yet been exploited by the modern ufo researchers.

I can guarantee that globally there would be no problem in getting a few hundred people to permanently dedicate a few kbps of their residential internet connections as permanent participants in a ufo data torrent network.

[edit on 4-3-2009 by not anonymous]

Which scope are you referring to? If you mean the 13.1 inch Newt/Dob its calculated maximum useful magnification is about 650X. I presently have optics to span 60X-740X (not including camera optics).

Interesting looking software, but for $250, hmmm.

Ahh... I LOVE these threads!

Although this topic or something similar shows up periodically on ATS, I never tire of it and it's always intriguing to read about the types of "methods" folks use.

I only mention that because you may want to do a quick ATS search on "contacting aliens" or similar and see all the neat things that come up. Perhaps you might want to post the better results or post links here for cross-reference.

In the meantime, one response that I've made previously involves the purchase, borrowing, or use of a Cinetheodolite, a missile/aircraft tracking telescope that automatically locks on to, zooms in on, and films objects in the sky. You can bet that the black ops guys have 'em and they're not just using them to track missiles.



Some guy shows up on the internet now and then and tries selling used ones on e.g., eBay, often listing it as a "UFO Catcher". There's one on eBay right now! if you have a couple hundred thousand dollars burning a hole in your pocket. No? Maybe we can take up a collection? I'll kick in the first Benjamin.

Anyway - if I can get enough serious folks together, I'd pitch in on buying one of these things and setting it up in, say south-central Nevada, hooking some remote telemetry equipment to it and, well, see how much luck we have fishing for UFOs!

In any event - good luck with this everyone. Every time this topic pops up I learn something new. Myself I'm still using my trusty Meade Ex125 with some electronic imaging piped to my laptop - but it's rough going and time-consuming to set up and maintain. What I'd really like is some automation and tracking built-in - though I suspect my clock-drive would need major modification to track at just normal aircraft speeds, if at all. *sigh*.

Anyway - Keep us posted on your progress, folks - and keep looking up!

Hmmm, plenty of expensive caveats like no tracking/drive computer, conversion to standard power, missing pieces, shipping of thousands of pounds etc. Gonna have to shovel up another mountain of money.
Impressive specifications though. 10 inch refractor, nice.

A Dobsonian fitted for sky scanning. GENIUS!!

Would also love to see what an aircraft in the day looks like through that dob if you ever have the time, even for just a second, always wondered just how close up is possible, can you see the windows i wonder with a telescope like that?

I know actually following it would be hard but a few shots of it passing by would be cool!

I'll see what I can do for you but it's 100% weather dependent at this point.
Even at night it is usually impressive when a plane flies through the field of view. So long as I keep the power down the large aperture collects a lot of light.

Man,

I want to see what Venus looks like through your telescope.

I can't believe how bright it is lately.

Is that something you can test out?

Just wondering.

Speaking of passerby images of passenger jets, in my work as a land surveyor, I often turn my total station towards passenger jets. You would be impressed by the telescoping capabilities of a Nikon 520, believe it or not.

If I can turn the dial fast enough, I can begin to count the windows.

I would LOVE to see some good still photos of this setup.

I have to admit, I have had quite a few daydreams of what I could possibly do modifying my equipment with cameras and some spare time.

Good thread, if I haven't already said that.

Hey, I'll throw in TWO Benjamin's to the idea of one for the system in Nevada.

Venus looks like a small crescent moon with no craters. Not very exciting. But you're right, it is incredibly bright considering only a thin crescent (15%) is illuminated right now.

Did you get a chance to get any video or images?

I understand if you've been busy etc, still find this stuff quite interesting, wish i could get round to doing something like it myself!

reply to post by just theory


I haven't been really busy but today was one of the first in weeks that was substantially above freezing (+7C) with a fairly clear sky. The wind was gusting to 40kmh. Weather is improving rapidly now so I imagine I'll be pulling the system out any day now. I certainly haven't forgotten about doing a demo run on some jets etc.
Thanks for keeping an interest in this thread.

Nice one, looking forward to it!

Originally posted by dainoyfb
Thanks for all of the complements!

ArMap, thanks! I wondered what I was doing wrong there.

that set up is awesome, and it's just something you "threw together" ? Wow, that must have cost a small fortune. (it also looks a little bit like a big bong, but that topic ends there,it's not big and it's not clever) What ever it looks like, it is bang on.

I've been meaning to get something to scan the skies with.

So go on then, ATS skywatchers, what's a good thing to go with, for a beginer. Something that records preferably, and also something with infrared. Buget of about 500 quid? (English quids) (got to chuck a lap top on top of that)

Are there any decent makes out there to watch out for, or are there any not so good ones i should avoid?
helpings and pointings please, thank you

Where are you located...US? How easy is it to move the setup to some of the hotspots or near some military installations?

reply to post by Acidtastic


You could start by pulling the old computer and web cam out of the closet and start recording the sky in case something happens in your area. From there you could upgrade in small steps. For instance you could download some security freeware that only records when motion is detected in the image. Some software even sends an email alert with images to your cell phone. You could also shop around for a surplus 35mm wide angle lens (see them around for $10.00) and rig an adapter so you can replace the 12mm lens on the webcam. If you can get a second web cam going so you can record in stereo even better.

If you have a bit of cash then get a good multi-channel video capture card for $100-300 and start plugging good video cameras into it. I like to use second hand camcorders because of their versatility, performance and low cost. To increase field of view there are some convex mirrors that they use for all sky cams. On line I've seen these for $50 dollars and up.

This is how I find the time and money to get a very capable system going, baby steps.

reply to post by BlackProjects



It's easy to move but I'm in Alberta, Canada. The nearest military base is in the USA. We have a couple of boy scout club houses around though.
You know how on the Discovery Channel they show the rain forest tribe that had an expedition visit one time and now they sit around a bamboo mock up of an airplane staring at the sky all day? Well that's kinda what we've got here. On a good day you might see four or five airliners at their service altitude.
That's if your staring at the sky all day. At night, well, Long wait for a train don't come.

I have heard that 'night vision' goggles can spot 'hidden' UFO's , but the trouble is everyone says to get the best image you have to spend in the region of $10,000 to buy them, anyone have any ideas of how one can 'create' a set?

I even thought about just setting up a video camera out of one of my windows , but seeing as the only activity we get are planes heading into gatwick and heathrow its a bit pointless going down the usual route.