Multiple Reports of Four Light Arrays Photographed in Daylight
New Zealand - Photo at Dusk
*NELSON* -- I was at dinner on December 29, 2008,
and enjoying the sunset so I took two digital pictures of it.
Only later while looking at the pictures on my computer I realized
there was something else in the photos. This is when I saw the four lights.
Thanks to MUFON CMS
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(From Filer's Files #11 2009)
Chathamkent, Ontario -- My sister was simply driving and taking photos on
February 15 2009, during a landscape photo session that my sister does quite
often. I've never seen something like this before except on TV and the
internet, it may be nothing but then again we can't figure it out.
She discovered these lights when she viewed her pictures afterwards. Nothing
in any other frames before or after the photo was taken. She takes hundreds
of pictures. I guess sooner or later something would show up kind of
unexplainable. Thanks to Brian Vike - HBCC UFO Research:
(The picture actually shows 5 lights, but the brightest four are in the same
arrangement as in the previous pictures.)
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October 21, 2009
From Joe:
Driving across Wyoming last Wednesday (Oct 21), I took a number of landscape photos while
driving along I-80. Basically I would just point my camera in the general
direction of the image I wanted to capture, let the camera auto-focus, and then
shoot. I wasn't too concerned about photo quality because I wanted the photos to
primarily give the viewer a sense of motion on the road. I planned to post the
photos on my blog that evening, but bad weather from Nebraska all the way home
kept me focused on driving exclusively for the next 2 days.
Yesterday (October 24?) I finally uploaded the last images I shot during the drive across
Wyoming, before I was greeted by the rain and snow in Nebraska. In the very last
image I shot--of mountains to the north of I-80 and in the eastern part of the
state--I was stunned to discover I also captured what appears to be 4 brightly
glowing objects. As I said earlier, I was just pointing and shooting and not
spending time framing images. I didn't see these objects when I took the photo.
The objects also appear to be emitting a "tail" that shows their trajectory in
an almost "J" entering the top right of the frame and then swooping over the
mountains.
The camera used was a Canon PowerShot A630. Resolution is 8.0 megapixels. I'm almost certain
I was shooting in Auto mode. The manual says "When Auto is selected, the optimal speed
is selected based on the brightness of the environment at the time of shooting.
The EXIF data are as follows:
Date: 10/21/09
Time: 7:55:24 (this must be eastern time)
Shutter: 1/100
Aperture: f/4.0
Max aperture: f/3.5
Exposure bias: 0.00
Focal length: 12.57 mm
Sensing: One-chip color area
Flash: Off
Metering: Pattern
I shot the picture through a closed window but I was not using a flash. Actually I shot a total
of 17 photos the same way that day (ie, while driving on I-80 and through the windows of my car)
and this is the only photo that contained the light array. Did you notice the "J" shaped tail
coming from the array? Would something like that form as the result of glare?
The camera was almost certainly pointing north, as I was driving east on I-80. At the very right
of the photo you can see a truck headed in the opposite direction (west). My best guesstimate is
that the photo was taken at about 4:30 in the afternoon. It was the very last photo I shot that
day (and actually the very last I shot on the trip, as the weather worsened in Nebraska,
requiring me to focus my attention exclusively
on driving).
One other bit of info you might find helpful. I just looked at a map of I-80 as it passes through
Wyoming, and I'm almost certain I was heading southeast, either shortly before or after
passing Laramie, when the photo was taken. I-80 dips to the south at that point. I think that
explains the positions of the shadows in the photo. Also, mountain time in WY would place the time
of the photo being taken at 5:55:24 PM.
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Analysis
In Joe's pictures the ellipticity of each light image MIGHT be a result of the motion of the
camera if the objects were close to the road and if they were basically circular in the
sense that, they would have appeared as circles had there been no relative motion.
The effect of camera motion - moving the lens axis parallel to itself during the
exposure time without twisting the camera - is apparent in the broadening of the images of the
fence posts on the far side of the road, for example. If the lights were very far away, such as
the distant hills, then the ellipticity is an indication that the lights could have been round
but were seen from an oblique view (a circle appears as an ellipse when the sighting direction
is not perpendicular to its surface).
The appearance of this arrangement of bright lights in the daylight sky reminds me of the
Salem, Mass. Coast Guard witness' picture from 1952 except those lights were
"in echelon" formation rather than a diamond shape.