Ok, live webcam from Antarctica, NEW UPDATE

aadc-maps.aad.gov.au...

In this map, Mawson station is the dot farthest right on the mainland of Antarctica (mouse over to see facility names @ that location). Bear in mind that this map is a view of the south pole, and that technically, geographically speaking, all directions are "North-Something" when you leave the southernmost part (south pole) of the planet. Also remember, that in this map "Up" is "South." Therefore, "Left" is "East." It may help to open this picture in a photo editor and rotate it 180 degrees. (Take a screenshot of your IE window)

If you look at their thumbnail for "Mildest Day" on the webcam, it appears the camera is facing the ocean. The full size picture is apparently broken, as is their link to a map of Mawson. I also feel that the sun is not a good indicator of direction in a polar environment.


Since the coast is moving up the right-hand side of the image, rather than the left, this reinforces the idea (to me, anyway) of the camera having a NE facing. The "Mildest Day" photo seems to be pretty close to the facing of the "Anomaly" pictures.


If the camera is facing North, and this is a "stationary" celestial body, it will rise on your right and set on your left (or at least move right to left relatively). How possible is it that this is something which is not "orbiting" or "moving" (very much) relative to earth?

I dunno what it is, I don't think it's Sirius, tho.

Someone please recheck my logic and astronomy.

--J1M

"Fastwalkers" are very common in Antarctica.

The "light" in question ain't no star, no planet, satellite or a comet...

So what exactly is a fastwalker Ixataar?? I must say I am impressed by the response and work some of you guys have put in to helping solve the mystery of whatever this 'anomaly' is! Thanks everyone it will be very interesting to see if that anomaly appears again today when it's dark, because if it does then that would suggest it is in orbit...But if not then what was it??

The latest images show an even more worrying picture ...

hehe LOL oh my god I'm running for the hills Pisky

nice one

OK!!! Now this might just be my imagination BUT , checked the webcam 24 hours after the anomaly , to see if it showed up and the webcam has been moved so it's pointing down instead of up!!! Now that is odd. the sky is hardly visible at all, ok maybe I'm over-reacting could have gotten blown by a gust of wind or knocked, but it is weird to say the least, I was hoping to see if the same anomaly appeared 24 hours later to confirm that it was something in orbit, I cant do that now!!

nice research!

it very well could be pointed in a NE direction. i hadn't even thought of that! BUT... looking to the NE there are no bright objects. the only fairly bright star is "Unukalhai," which has a magnitude of about 2.6. in other words, not as bright as what that object was at that time. looking ENE though, and much higher in altitude, is the moon. looking NNE is the star "Arcturus," which has a magnitude of about 0... but it's just above the horizon and about to set. looking due east there is not much but some neulae and star clusters. now, looking NW jupiter is there, which is about the same altitude as sirius is.

what's my point? perhaps this installation is in a bay or something and that direction cannot be discerned by where there shore is.

from the webcam's website

At times drifting snow, or equipment malfunction may interrupt the picture.
In case of technical difficulties, contact [email protected].

perhaps send an email to the webcam-master asking what's up and if anyone can identify the object... or to be more sly, just ask what direction the webcam is pointing.

Pisky, I am more scared of the little blonde kid captured in that photo of yours than the asteroid.

I noticed that anomaly as well when I parused the same webcam; and yes, I wondered what that was too? It's too high to be station lighting as the cam is poised well above station buildings.

Did you notice the time sync on all of the most recent webcam shots? All of the most recent shots are either in the 0500-0645 hrs or 1700-1845 hrs time frames. NO LIVE SHOTS!

oooh...intrigue
cmdrkeenkid, do you really think Sirius is the explanation? I can't tell at all what it could be.
it's kind of fishy now that this is getting attention, the camera shot changes, someone really should email the webmaster of the site.

From
Sent Thursday, June 3, 2004 12:37 pm
To [email protected]
Cc
Bcc
Subject Webcam

Hello,
There is an active online forum debate at www.abovetopsecret.com... discussing an object seen in the night sky on June 2, 2004, from 8:46 PM until 9:16 PM. Ideas as to what this object is range from a sattelite, to an asteroid or comet, or to a planet or star. So, asking on behalf of all involved in this debate, can you identify this object please? Also, what direction this webcam facing? Thanks.

One more thing, one person recently attempted to view the webcam again and it appeared to be knocked over or malfunctioning.

Jeremiah St. Peter

isn't it 9:46 to 10:16pm? Maybe I'm looking at the wrong cam...

Originally posted by lilblam
isn't it 9:46 to 10:16pm? Maybe I'm looking at the wrong cam...

i was going by the timestamp on the .gif file SO put together. unless i read it wrong?

Nice work cmdrkeenkid , I will also send an email similar to yours, Keep us posted if they respond buddy, Glad to see this getting a serious logical debate, ie no far out theories, this is a good example of the teamwork and friendly spirit of the posters on this board, and although when I first came on to this site i felt it was a bit hostile, that seems so long ago , I now see that everybody here works together, and uses their brains instead of their imagination, Thank God for sane, Friendly people , Many thanks to everyone who is contributing to help find out the mystery of this anomaly
And thankyou ATS

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid

Originally posted by lilblam
isn't it 9:46 to 10:16pm? Maybe I'm looking at the wrong cam...

i was going by the timestamp on the .gif file SO put together. unless i read it wrong?

Here's what you can do...

This is the latest link of the image at the website, as of this writing:

www.aad.gov.au...

See the last Set of numbers?

04 - year
06 - month
02 - day
16 - hours?
36 - minutes?
(hours and minutes, when converted from military time which this would have to be, don't match those written ON the pictures themselves)

You can adjust the DAY, HOURS, and MINUTES (minutes have to be in increments of 10, so like 06, 16, 26, 36, etc.) And get pictures all the way upto 03,16,46, as of this writing, which looks like this:

www.aad.gov.au...

Just use a new browser window to put in the address for the pics, to see the ones u can't click here or on the website, because they're all stored on the site.
---------------------------------------------





So, the bright light in the sky can be seen, as far as I can tell:

FROM:
www.aad.gov.au...

(which is June 02, 5:56pm according to picture)

TO:
www.aad.gov.au...

(which is June 02, 7:26pm according to picture)

(here it is on the FAR LEFT, and you can see a NEW object appearing on the FAR RIGHT, and as the LEFT one disappears, the RIGHT one now is moving through the screen)
----------------------------------





This NEW object lasts through:

www.aad.gov.au...

(which is June 02, 10:36pm according to picture)

And after this, no new object appears.
-------------------------------------------





But here is what SkepticOverlord was talkin about, apparently, which happened 1 day BEFORE both of the above objects appeared:

There was a previous object that APPEARED ON:
www.aad.gov.au...

(which is June 01, 7:46pm according to picture)

And it hides behinds clouds, but can still be seen here:
www.aad.gov.au...

(which is June 01, 8:56pm according to picture)

Then it pops back out to bright visibility again here:
www.aad.gov.au...

(which is June 01, 9:16pm according to picture)

And then it lasts untill:
www.aad.gov.au...

(Which is June 01, 9:46pm according to picture)
----------------------------------------------

So to SUM THIS UP, there are 3 objects that are seen, in chronological order:

1st Object: June 01, 7:46pm TO June 01, 9:46pm.

2nd Object: June 02, 5:56pm TO June 02, 7:26pm.

3rd Object: June 02, 7:26pm TO June 02, 10:36pm.
-------------------------------

The HOURS/MINUTES inside the WEB ADDRESS to locate the pictures, which seem to be presented in military time, are 4 hours after US Eastern Time. So US Eastern time + 4 hours = web browser address time.

Right now it's 1:22pm US Eastern. The Web Address then will be 17:22 (aka 5:22). However, since the pics are on 10-minute increments with 6 as the last digit, the next picture will only be on 17:26 and will be at the following link, in 4 minutes:

www.aad.gov.au...

However, the actual timestamp WITHIN the pictures themselves, made by the digital camera itself, is actually 10 hours after US Eastern Time, so it is: US Eastern Time + 10 hours = Timestamp within picture.

If it is 1:22pm US Eastern Time, right NOW, then the timestamp within the picture itself will be 11:22am, although it won't exist until 11:26am, since that's when the next pic will be taken.

This should hopefully clarify the time issues

[Edited on 3-6-2004 by lilblam]

Well it appears the webcam can move around somewhat. (Or its just sitting on a bench looking out the window and someone bumped it etc).

But the general direction seems to be N or perhaps NNWish. Judging from the maps of the station available on this page.

PDF Map
Java Interactive Map (Requires Java, but you can zoom in/out etc.)

According to these maps the only thing that the dome could be is the ANARESAT Dome. You can use that to judge the general orientation of the camera.

Originally posted by lilblam

This is the latest link of the image at the website, as of this writing:

www.aad.gov.au...

Err That can't be the latest picture as of writing mate , Its the 3rd of June and on that picture it's the 2nd june

Basically after the image disappears on the 2nd June, the cam is pointing down , instead of level , so you can't see as high, If you click on my original link, and compare the current image with , 24 hours ago , you will see that the camera is pointing in a different position, I find that a little strange, because now you can't tell if the object is back. weird. appreciate the work you have done tho mate, so don't think I'm trying to prove you wrong or anything.

Originally posted by Mindsmog

Originally posted by lilblam

This is the latest link of the image at the website, as of this writing:

www.aad.gov.au...

Err That can't be the latest picture as of writing mate , Its the 3rd of June and on that picture it's the 2nd june

That's fine, but the actual LINK for the image on the website seems to be BEHIND the actual LATEST SHOT they have saved in memory on the website, which you can access by manually inputting the latest date/time into the picture web location. The actual LINK, which appears here:

www.aad.gov.au...

Says it is "24 hours ago" anyway. I dunno where they link to the most recent one. I should probably have made that clarification, thanks.

EDIT: Ah ok so the "big kahoona" in the middle of the page IS the most recent one. I didn't recognize it for some reason, probably because of the different camera angle you mentioned, so I thought it was a different cam completely.
--------------------------------

Here's the 2 shots, with 10 minutes between them, 1 shot being the previous camera angle, and the next shot being the COMPLETELY CHANGED camera angle.

Previous camera angle shot:


And suddenly, 10 minutes later, totally CHANGED camera angle, that shows much less of the sky:



[Edited on 3-6-2004 by lilblam]

Originally posted by lilblam
Here's the 2 shots, with 10 minutes between them, 1 shot being the previous camera angle, and the next shot being the COMPLETELY CHANGED camera angle.

yeah, but look at those wind speeds! 65 km/h and 70km/h, respectively. so it's probably safe to say the wind may be pretty steady at those speeds. perhaps a gust of wind blew the camera to a different angle. or maybe the camera was originally on the buildings and a gust blew to recently to the direction it had been facing and someone moved it back to view the buildings.

and now the moment we've all been waiting for...

From [email protected]
Sent Thursday, June 3, 2004 12:38 pm
To [email protected]
Cc
Bcc
Subject Your e-mail to the AAD has not been delivered

The Australian Antarctic Division e-mail system has automatically assessed an e-mail message sent by you to [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

because it looks like it may contain something similar to spam i.e. unsolicited e-mail.

At present the following message has not been delivered:

Message: B0000b89c6.00000000.mml
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Webcam

However if you reply to this email, with the text of this message included and unchanged, the system will automatically release your message and forward it to [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] immediately.

If you reply as suggested above, in addition to releasing your message, we will automatically (within two working days) add your e-mail address to the Australian Antarctic Division's e-mail system ensuring that messages from you will not be stopped again.

Please remember to keep the text of this message intact in your response to ensure your message will be released.

If you are having problems with this, give us a ring on 03 62 323 488 between 8.30 - 5.00 Tasmanian time.

Thanks,

Australian Antarctic Division - IT Services Group.

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