My "UFO" picture

I want to make it clear that I think of whatever is in the picture below as a true UNIDENTIFIED flying ( or falling) object or an unidentified aerial phenomena. I am not claiming that whatever it was is alien in nature. I was hoping to gain some insight into what was seen from the posters in this forum.

The photo was taken at Pahranagat Wildlife Refuge in Nevada in November, 2009. After a day of taking photos of mule deer and birds we stopped to look back on the refuge office where they were doing a prescribed burn of scrub brush around the office. We heard a loud noise and observed three F-15s fly over head, changing position, and then flying in a triangle formation. Suddenly, through the camera lens, I observed a very bright circle of light falling behind the path of the planes and was lucky to catch one photo of whatever it was. I could not tell if it came from the planes or had a different origin. It was not a lens flare from the camera because it could be seen with the naked eye. The planes moved away from the object while the object fell. We lost sight of it before it landed in the desert.

My first thought was that it was a flare released by the plane but in all the videos and pictures I have been able to find of flares there are always multiple flares and the flares look like little comets with a head and a smoke trail.

The photo below has only had some basic things done to it such as cropping and some adjustment for brightness.






Mod edit: image tag corrected.

Ok.. I usually get angry myself when someone comes out with a often used debunking theory. However, I am gonna have to say this is probably Jupiter.. It has been pretty prominent in the sky for the last year and has confused several people including myself.

As far as nondescript points of light go, it's a good one!

reply to post by wisintel


Have to disagree that it was Jupiter. It was clearly falling towards the ground. I probably should have mentioned that I have a picture of the planes and surrounding sky seven seconds earlier with no bright object.

Although cropping it for us is great, it's also always useful in the process of identifying the element in the picture if we can see the original. The original photo, unaltered, may have tree-lines or other things in it that help give us a reference point and also aid in figuring out the size of the object.

Judging by the orange light on the fighter jets, though, I have my own theory:

It's Venus.

You took this picture towards the time of sunset (am I right?) and the camera is pointing towards the West, which is where I believe Venus has been around the time of sunset.

Often times, Venus is seen when there is still daylight out, and it has tricked me more than a couple times into thinking it was something odd.

Just my $0.02

EDIT TO ADD: thanks for adding the original. Not many reference points in the picture, but that's not your fault.

reply to post by gatorboi117


This was towards sunset but I was facing east with the sun behind me. One thing that I have considered is that it is just something reflective, catching the sun, but it wasn't being blown about by the wind. It was falling towards the ground from some height.

Originally posted by angrywhitechick
reply to post by gatorboi117

 

This was towards sunset but I was facing east with the sun behind me. One thing that I have considered is that it is just something reflective, catching the sun, but it wasn't being blown about by the wind. It was falling towards the ground from some height.

Another possibility is that it was a satellite of some sort. Possibly an Iridium flare? If you post the general location and time/date of this, I can back track some data sites and see if there were any satellite passings.

reply to post by gatorboi117


Thanks, that would be great! I had a GPS receiver attached to the camera. It recorded:
Date/time: November 10, 2009 00:33:42 UTC
Location: N 37deg 12' 46.09", W 115deg 4' 18.26", altitude 972m

Originally posted by angrywhitechick
reply to post by wisintel

 

Have to disagree that it was Jupiter. It was clearly falling towards the ground. I probably should have mentioned that I have a picture of the planes and surrounding sky seven seconds earlier with no bright object.

if you have a photo of the planes 7 seconds earlier then the object would not be in frame anyway as they would be nowhere near it travelling even at a low subsonic speed!.

thanks

rich

Originally posted by wisintel
Ok.. I usually get angry myself when someone comes out with a often used debunking theory. However, I am gonna have to say this is probably Jupiter.. It has been pretty prominent in the sky for the last year and has confused several people including myself.

I tend to agree, I saw Jupiter at night in mid september and it looked just like that.

reply to post by pravvda


When you saw jupiter did it rapidly fall towards the ground?

I can see that a satellite can have the type of motion I described but a planet? Planets don't appear to move quickly.

Surely I'm not the only one thinking it's a golf ball?

reply to post by angrywhitechick


It cant be a golf ball- there is no shadow on the left, like the planes fuselage shows.
Did the planes come back around?

I would like to see what Gator finds out.

reply to post by Tribble


No, I was in that location for a good 45 minutes and didn't see the jets (or anything else) again.

reply to post by RICH-ENGLAND


LOL, yes I didn't word that very well. That should have been two separated statements.

What I meant to say was that the object was falling towards the ground so I discounted it as a planet since they tend to stay in one place for more than a few seconds.

I also meant to say that I have other pictures in the series and the object isn't visible in any of them, just as added information. Also, before and after I saw the object there was no light in the sky. Wouldn't a planet have been visible for a longer period of time?

reply to post by angrywhitechick


There are two (maybe more) types of flares that planes use, the first type is to draw away enemy heat locks and things, the second type is called an illumination flare and falls slowly to the ground attached to a parachute

reply to post by davespanners


That is an interesting suggestion. I didn't know that. Thanks for the information! That will give me something else to look into. I can check to see if I can find any similar images.

Do you have any idea how long something like that might stay airborne?

reply to post by Tribble

there is shadow on the left of the 'ufo' corresponding with the shadows on the jets.
its not a flare.
I still think its a golf ball.

reply to post by neonitus

There are two types of flares, pyrotechnic and pyrophoric.The pyrotechnic flares produce highly visible white light and smoke. When ejected they ignite and produce a large amount of infrared energy for 5 to 10 seconds to distract and confuse the missile’s seeker. They can start fires if they land on the ground before they have burned out. The pyrophoric flares are much less visible since they are small pieces of foil that oxidize (rust) very quickly, producing heat, and then cool in the atmosphere as they fall to the ground as rusted metal debris.

www.globalsecurity.org...

It might have been a flare, if it was in the flight path.

reply to post by davespanners


I have been unable to find (countermeasure flares) that don't immediately smoke at deployment.
www.visualintel.net...
Are these F-15s? Any help is appreciated, prior to me asking the DOD thread.