Going through some recent vacation pics and found this...

Was on vacation with the family in the mountains of West Virginia over the weekend of the 4th... specifically, a mountain overlooking the Green Bank Radio observatory.

When we got home, the family was sharing pictures with each other and saw the artifact in the attached picture.



Would love to hear people's thoughts on what this is.

looks like a butterfly

Probably a White Admiral

Make sure the camera lens are cleaned next time, free advice from someones who's been taking photos for a hobby for decades.

a reply to: Finalized

Thanks for the post.

If I had to take a guess I would say it looked like a butterfly. There seems to be no corresponding shadow, of course if it were large the shadow might be behind the rise.

What do you think, did you see anything at the time? I guess not or you would have included that in the report, but I have to ask.

a reply to: Finalized

ETA - On looking again, I think it's probably a butterfly too.. Nice shot though! Reminds me of my capture of a dragonfly with my Canon dSLR, amazing to see such fine detail on it when zoomed right in, even though the original image showed it from very far away. I love my camera!

Did not see it at the time; we've got a 3 burst shot and this artifact was only in the first one.

ETA; how do I actually embed an image in a post instead of linking to it?

originally posted by: MegaSpace
Make sure the camera lens are cleaned next time, free advice from someones who's been taking photos for a hobby for decades.

If it was on the camera lens it wouldn't be in focus as the camera is obviously focused on infinity to get the background in focus.(You should know this being involved in photography for decades!)

It looks like an overhead projector to me (LOL!) and at a guess is about half way between the camera and tree line.

a reply to: Finalized

Here's a closer look.

if you zoom in real close you will see that the pixels are completely black, no details on them, i wonder if the radio observatory could have affected the digital camera?

originally posted by: Finalized
Did not see it at the time; we've got a 3 burst shot and this artifact was only in the first one.

ETA; how do I actually embed an image in a post instead of linking to it?

Go to the top of ats and there is an arrow pointing down-click it and click upload-select your file and click upload. Once it is there, click on it and copy the BBcode for use in post and post it in your post here.

Edit: Here are some pictures to help.

How To Upload Pics On ATS

originally posted by: Tardacus
if you zoom in real close you will see that the pixels are completely black, no details on them, i wonder if the radio observatory could have affected the digital camera?

As it's nothing more than a very sensitive radio receiver,then no there's no way it could affect any digital imaging devices.Even less likely (and impossible) is producing a perfectly defined image like that superimposed onto another image.

Close up it looks like a gondola. The hook top and the cabin. Of course you can't see any wires, nor is there another one in this shot but to me it looks like a gondola. Seems to me on top of a mountain and an attraction, so there must be a way up for the lazy...

a reply to: Finalized

It's a flying number 6 !!

Thanks for this... After seeing this butterfly and looking at the pic again, I tend to agree

Originally thought the white area looked like a window.

originally posted by: Indigent
looks like a butterfly

Probably a White Admiral

Ah. The rarely-spotted-always-mistaken-backward-looking-floating swan. A rare find I must say.

It looks like a ski lift or something?

originally posted by: Imagewerx

originally posted by: MegaSpace
Make sure the camera lens are cleaned next time, free advice from someones who's been taking photos for a hobby for decades.

If it was on the camera lens it wouldn't be in focus as the camera is obviously focused on infinity to get the background in focus.(You should know this being involved in photography for decades!)

It looks like an overhead projector to me (LOL!) and at a guess is about half way between the camera and tree line.

I didnt bother studying it after it was very obvious of being a none extra terrestrial object, only had a milliion of a second look at it, and knew it was nothing of sigificance, im glad the rest of you highlighted the obvious. A Butterfly should have been very obvious to op from the very start

your type of snarky reply is why I hate the Internet sometimes. You've basically called me obtuse in a mealy mouthed manner.

Thanks for all the other (helpful) replies.

originally posted by: MegaSpace

originally posted by: Imagewerx

originally posted by: MegaSpace
Make sure the camera lens are cleaned next time, free advice from someones who's been taking photos for a hobby for decades.

If it was on the camera lens it wouldn't be in focus as the camera is obviously focused on infinity to get the background in focus.(You should know this being involved in photography for decades!)

It looks like an overhead projector to me (LOL!) and at a guess is about half way between the camera and tree line.

I didnt bother studying it after it was very obvious of being a none extra terrestrial object, only had a milliion of a second look at it, and knew it was nothing of sigificance, im glad the rest of you highlighted the obvious. A Butterfly should have been very obvious to op from the very start

Clearly Allah's wife keeping an eye on things over the mountain tops. Case closed until bones decide to reopen it.