Jump to content

The ISS "UFO"

vger

By vger
in Science & Spaceflight

 Share

Recommended Posts

vger

vger

Posted
Posted (edited)

Forewarning: NO CONSPIRACY THEORIES PLEASE

Alright, this is kind of a silly topic on the surface. And while I don't automatically write off the possibility of extra-terrestrial visitors, even when I was hardcore about UFO's, I always tried to debunk them, including my own sightings.

So... this "UFO" has appeared on the ISS HD video feed four times now. The first two or three times, the signal allegedly got lost within moments of the object appearing on the horizon. This, of course, got the more paranoid UFO folks buzzing about a cover-up. I personally don't think this is an alien craft, and I don't think NASA is trying to hide anything. If they are, I don't think it's a UFO. Especially since with this fourth sighting (all 4 of these have occurred pretty recently within the past month or so), the video wasn't cut. But the general consensus is that there is indeed something there.

The most popular skeptic argument is that it's the moon. But based on how over-saturated the Earth is in these videos, my gut tells me it isn't bright enough to be the moon. That doesn't mean it isn't though. Even the relative size of the moon is nearly impossible for us to gauge with our eyes, because there's a known optical illusion that makes us see it differently based on how close it is to the horizon. But the lack of brightness of the object has me doubting.

Has anyone here bothered to look into this at all? My interest is peaked enough to want to try investigating it, but not before I'm certain that nobody else has successfully debunked this with facts instead of assumptions. If this is just the moon, it should be easy enough to determine if the moon should even be visible at that point in the ISS's orbit. I would hope that serious UFO researchers already accounted for this, but the details are so sketchy and scattered that I've had a hard time finding solid info. And for a UFO sighting like this, that's kind of unusual.

Most recent article, the one that finally got me thinking, "Alright, what the heck is going on?"

http://www.inquisitr.com/1781592/ufo-space-station/

Edit: Here's a better clip of the thing from a previous sighting.

Edited by vger
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous Oxide

Posted
Posted

Physics (and by extension, optics) should be mandatory in school.

a) That's like a 320xsomething pixel res camera with absolutely ZERO detail and hella JPEG compression (well, not quite JPEG in this case, but the same concept just with video :P).

B) Lights and lenses do fun things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
vger

vger

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
What? The way it just appears there in the middle of the picture, it is just a flare of the lenses or the window. Has nobody of these UFO-freaks ever used a camera in there life?

I thought of that, but shouldn't the lens flare produce more reflections?

Also annoyingly, I've found that the source video doesn't look HD, even though youtube shows the option to display it that way. I don't know if that means they just don't know how to capture and process footage, or if they just digitally enlarged one section of the image to a ridiculous amount. A crisp HD image should make a lens flare easy enough to identify.

Edit: Included a better video in my OP. That doesn't look like a lens flare, or the moon to me. The shape seems too elongated.

Of course, this is one of the clips where the video conveniently cuts out immediately, so we don't get to see it rise any higher than that.

Edited by vger
Link to comment
Share on other sites
N_las

N_las

Posted
Posted
Included a better video in my OP. That doesn't look like a lens flare, or the moon to me. Of course, this is one of the clips where the video conveniently cuts out immediately, so we don't get to see it rise any higher than that.

This second video looks nothing like the first one, they have nothing to do with each other. The second one is almost certainly the moon. How do you expect it to look?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous Oxide

Posted
Posted
I thought of that, but shouldn't the lens flare produce more reflections?

Lens flares depend on angle and intensity of the light... as well as diffraction and some other things... light is pretty complex. Either way, the Earth is nothing but a giant reflective light in the scene, and to me, it looks like it's that light reflecting off the outer lens/cap of the camera, maybe as the camera angled as the station moved along the orbit (remember things happen fast in space, km/s fast).

Anyways, I wear glasses, and seeing light do all kinds of weird things and make patterns and stuff through my own spectacles puts this kind of stuff into perspective a little better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SubzeroSpartan7

SubzeroSpartan7

Posted
Posted

Of course, this is one of the clips where the video conveniently cuts out immediately, so we don't get to see it rise any higher than that.

This fact alone makes me believe that it really is nothing. If there was something and this person was trying to prove it, they would give more material to base there "theories".

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous Oxide

Posted
Posted (edited)

It's just a coincidence the feed cuts out right after a moonrise. Which is nothing strange, a TV feed from space isn't something we plan to have 100% uptime for... but of course with the vast majority out there having very little idea on how the mechanics that move their world and lives work, they'll jump at any coincidence and invent the most outrageous theories because it can't be that simple to them. It's space, it has to be aliens. They're too inferior to comprehend anything else. If it was aliens, we'd damn well know.

Also, people don't like being shown up by smart people, thus perpetuating the whole debacle even further. Oh, the scientists who actually work with this stuff for a living say it isn't aliens? What the hell do they know? Or even worse, that they're all lying to us... as if a group of humans is that coherent to maintain a conspiracy involving the biggest, most profound thing humanity could ever discover. Hanlon's razor dictates otherwise.

Edited by Nitrous Oxide
Link to comment
Share on other sites
vger

vger

Posted
  • Author
Posted
It's just a coincidence the feed cuts out right after a moonrise. Which is nothing strange, a TV feed from space isn't something we plan to have 100% uptime for... but of course with the vast majority out there having very little idea on how the mechanics that move their world and lives work, they'll jump at any coincidence and invent the most outrageous theories because it can't be that simple to them. It's space, it has to be aliens. They're too inferior to comprehend anything else. If it was aliens, we'd damn well know.

Well, yeah, and I don't expect the signal to be consistent. Live HD has got to be the fattest "pipe" we've ever tried sending from space. Generally I'm just thankful that the feed is there at all.

What really started to get these guys fuming is that a signal got lost MORE than once right after this thing started rising. Of course, that would ALSO make sense if there are certain "dead zones" in the ISS flight path, and one of them just HAPPENS to be right where the sun hits the station at the right angle to produce an optical effect. If it's the latter, it's a case of terrible bad luck and we're going to keep seeing this pattern repeat, giving more fuel to the fringe theories.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous Oxide

Posted
Posted (edited)
First female kerbals, now being a conspiracy nut. Seriously Nitrous? Wat da @#$!

Err, I guess I had a rough week. Work sucks so I take it out on the internet... but that's my business. If the mods want a word with me, they can, until then I'll speak my mind... just don't take things personally. I generalize, a lot. Sorry if I offended you... but I do think the whole conspiracy thing is a bit silly in the days of YouTube... I mean, I like the idea of aliens and all, it's just silly to think the government of all things is competent enough to suppress something like this for 60-some years... lol.

we're going to keep seeing this pattern repeat, giving more fuel to the fringe theories.

Giving more evidence that it's certain optical effects at certain alignments of the 3 celestial bodies and the station. In fact, the more we see, the less and less these conspiracy theorists have to work with, especially if/when we can map them out. :)

Edited by Nitrous Oxide
Link to comment
Share on other sites
vger

vger

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
Where over the Earth and at what time was the siting ( local to the ground location).

Wish I knew. I thought when the HD cameras first went live, that data was overlayed in the corner of the screen, but maybe I'm confusing that with something else. Maybe it was with the analog cameras on NASA TV a few years ago?

I wish it did though. Not only would it help with the standard "what land features am I looking at now?" but, accusations have actually been made against NASA as a result of these UFO incidents. If we knew when and where the camera was pointing, and the position of the station, it would be a lot easier to put this matter to rest. I just sent an email, recommending there at least be an option to view this info. I know there's the "map," but that doesn't help with the multiple camera angles. And unfortunately you also can't "fraps" that along with the live video feed.

Edited by vger
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nibb31

Nibb31

Posted
Posted

This one is particularly funny:

I love how the UFO-conspiracy folks get all up in arms about it, and how the astronauts are intentionally ignoring the UFOs in their commentary.

Of course, what we are looking at in this video is drops of condensation running on the windows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
YNM

YNM

Posted
Posted (edited)

Go get the timestamp, check where the ISS flies above when it happens, check JPL HORIZONS for moon ephemeris at that time at that place. Make sure you correct up for angle of dip. Hope it solves itself out.

Else, put your thumb on : calculate how many degrees of the Earth was in the FOV. Then adjust to a half a degree sphere. Done.

Other : check the phase of the Moon at the time of the video was taken. Compare.

One more other : it clearly rises from behind the Earth. And it's look natural to be Moon.

Other things : might be a water droplet (not sure which rocket brings it along).

Precautionary notice : the video, it's not HD.

Edited by YNM
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Duxwing

Duxwing

Posted
Posted
Err, I guess I had a rough week. Work sucks so I take it out on the internet... but that's my business. If the mods want a word with me, they can, until then I'll speak my mind... just don't take things personally. I generalize, a lot. Sorry if I offended you... but I do think the whole conspiracy thing is a bit silly in the days of YouTube... I mean, I like the idea of aliens and all, it's just silly to think the government of all things is competent enough to suppress something like this for 60-some years... lol.

Giving more evidence that it's certain optical effects at certain alignments of the 3 celestial bodies and the station. In fact, the more we see, the less and less these conspiracy theorists have to work with, especially if/when we can map them out. :)

I nit-pick that a cover-up is not impossible but unlikely: governments can and must conceal such sensitive information as health records and tax returns and sometimes abuse this power.

-Duxwing

Link to comment
Share on other sites
This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...