Please help identify this streak of light in the sky

Hi ATS'ers, first off, I have posted this in the UFO forum because as of this moment, it is unidentified, NOT because I believe it is an alien craft.

A friend of mine posted this photo on Facebook, and although personally I think it is a meteor, it is also a curious one. To quote him:

This was taken with a Fuji camera in a constant burst of 12 pics its the only one with this in background ???? if it can stop the blades dead on this what speed was this doing to leave a vapor trail?

I asked him how long the exposure was, to try and establish if it was a meteor, or even an iridium fllare, his response:

i took 12 pics in 1 to 1half seconds this was on number 5

So, 12 pics in 1 - 1 1/2 seconds, that's a fast shutter speed, rules out an iridium flare, and I would have thought a meteor would have shown up on more than just the one picture at that speed.

The pic in question:



Over to you guys........

reply to post by woogleuk


Seen a streak just like this one night in glasgow a month or two back,slow moving,incredibly bright however it was night time,this one i saw went horizontally whereas from your pic this one looks vertical

The picture is too grainy to tell, but it does look like a meteor. The Lyrid meteor shower is going on now and will peak on April 22.

reply to post by ScottishBiker420


Yeah, seen a few myself, what is puzzling me is the speed, even the faster moving ones that leave a trail that bright during the day should have (IMO) been visible on more than one shot.

reply to post by _BoneZ_


Yeah, looking forward to it, going to set the camera to bulb exposure and see how many I can capture in an hour.

When/where was this taken? I saw something odd last nite near Los Angeles around 9:30 PM, while driving on 605fwy south bound. It was a bright turquoise orb moving at a rapid speed, started from around 1/4 of my view span from left, and vanished about 3/4 the way in a span of about 5 seconds. When I first noticed it, I mentioned it to my wife sitting in the passenger seat, "..that's not a plane..". She, who always teases me on my UFO-interest, confirmed immediately, not a plane. It should be a meteor. It moved quite parallel to the ground, and the speed was incredible.

reply to post by TinkererJim


It was taken in the UK. The amount of fireball sightings worldwide during the day are on the increase, this one however was very brief.

reply to post by woogleuk


I can't see anything abnormal.

reply to post by greyer


I've scaled the image down so people can see it better without having to scroll across, it's the stream below the helicopter. Please read the OP so you get an idea of timings.

Do you notice the rings of energy coming out of the tail like a jet in full after burn? its manmade...

Some jet techno freak knows how mph's per ring @ 20 rings it could be flying fast enough to catch only one frame... for instance; we may have a plane that flies mach 20 or 15224 mph that is 4.2 miles per second if that area shot by those 12 frames is smaller than 4.2 miles you would only catch it once, in one frame only.

I saw this too in the USA a few days ago. The only difference was the tail was pointed down and the circle of light was at the top. In other words, it seemed to be going up instead of down. It also seemed to be sitting in the sky like it was just barely moving. It was daylight. I'm in Indiana.

The first thing I imaged was that
- its an airplane in high altitude that is reflecting the sun that is in the horizon.
- the pic seem like been taking late of an afternoon, at that high altitude the sun light still is reflecting in the airplane contrail.

reply to post by blackcube


That was my first impression until he explained the other photos, there one millisecond, gone the next. It's a bit early here in the UK to be asking for one of the other pics, but I will leave him a message and ask him to post one later on today.

Again, it's probably a daytime meteor, just unusually quick.

reply to post by blackcube


OK, got one of the other pics, this one is directly before (as in milliseconds). I will post the original image size, as well as a reduced comparative one.

Also, further information from him:

This was taken on the day HMS ark royal left Tynemouth. This helicopter was part of the ship so I thought I'll have some pics. I didn't see the thing in background until 3 months later whilst flicking through them with windows pic viewer, I went past it and had to go back 3 pics, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

Originally posted by woogleuk
reply to post by greyer

 

I've scaled the image down so people can see it better without having to scroll across, it's the stream below the helicopter. Please read the OP so you get an idea of timings.

Still, I think UFOs are balls of fire that appear certain places, reappear in others, hover over cattle pastures and abduct cattle. I don't think they are jets but ships possibly from other dimensions with green occupants in them. They say that so far of an advanced technology would equivalate to magic for us - well it sure is magic to me.

It 100% looks like a contrail.....IMO.

and perspective is everything....It is more than likely NOT going down......it just appears that way due to perspective. I see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary with this...

reply to post by greeneyedleo


Hi Greeneye, it's not a contrail, it appears for a fraction of a second then disappears. There was a burst shot of 12 photos in 1 - 1 1/2 seconds, the trail only appears on photo number 5.

9 - 12 Fps burst = 1 shot is 8.3ms to 12.5ms ( I think, something like that)

So whatever that is, is only visible for that incredibly short period of time, so still most likely a meteor....but I'm sure you will agree, considering how bright it must have been to be visible during the day it must have been going fast.

EDIT: For the record, if I thought it was a contrail, I wouldn't have posted. I'm one of the people who try and debunk that sort of stuff, like the "California missile". I just found it interesting and thought ATS would have as well.

Interesting shot woogle

Whilst it does look like it could be a fleeting meteor to me, I think it's also possible that the streak may have been something to do with the helicopter.

I would encourage you/your friend to submit the sequence to: Alastair McBeath, Meteor Director, Society for Popular Astronomy.
E-mail: (messages under 150 kB in size only, please)

Let us know how you get on if you do

reply to post by FireballStorm


Ok, thanks for your input. I have sent the email, I managed to get the address off the sites forum.

It reads:

Hello, I have been asked to send this email by a member of a forum I use.

I have attached a picture which is comprised of 2 of 12 pictures taken by a friend of mine in a burst mode on his camera. The 12 photos were all taken within 1 second, the object only appears on photo 5.

It was taken in the North East of England sometime around Feb / Mar 2011 as the HMS Royal Ark was leaving Tynemouth for the last time to be decommissioned. If it is indeed a meteor, it would have only been visible for the brief milliseconds the shot was captured, during the day too.

What are your thoughts?

Thank you very much for any ideas you may have.

Regards,

Anthony Hooper.

I also included the two photos here and a blown up version of the object as they have a file size limit for mail.



If I get a response, I will post it.

reply to post by woogleuk


I'm intrigued... any response yet??

I reckon it is a meteor too... but at that shutter speed!?!