September
2008
UFO Sighting!
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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Crowds gasped as they looked skyward. Many ran for their lives, while others couldn’t look away. As the leading anglo-photojournalist in Colindres, I bravely ran for my camera. The glowing orbs hung there in the sky, quivering slightly, as if they were watching us. Then, as quickly as they had appeared, they vanished.
Speculation commenced immediately. Alien spacecraft? Military aircraft cloaking? Spirits of the dead? Why the 4-2 formation? Was someone trying to communicate the answer to life, the universe, and everything?
Close-up crop.
What were they?
Let’s see who can figure out what this is a photograph of. As with most UFO stories, you should ignore the hyperbole of eyewitness testimony (i.e. the first paragraph of this post). All of the following is true:
- This photograph was taken out my living room window.
- No photoshop editing was performed.
- The light sources really were there above the buildings and below the clouds.
- The six-pointed star effect is a result of the filter on my camera, not because of the nature of the light source.
Submit your guesses in the comments. I will tell you the answer in a couple days.
Update [Sept. 9, 2008]:
The Answer
It seems that only one person (a commenter on Flickr who chastised me for making an amateur UFO-faker mistake) thought to look at the EXIF data for the image to discover that the length of the exposure was 7 minutes and 45 seconds. These were cohetes, firecrackers on rockets that make really loud booms, used in Spain to announce the beginning and end of festivals. It’s a pretty efficient way to convey one bit of information to the entire population of a small town. They are also typically used to announce the beginning and end of a bullrun (it’s important for everyone to know when the bulls are safely out of the streets). The sky was completely dark, and they made a cool spark trail as they zoomed into the sky. After they fired the first one, I ran to set up my camera, hoping to catch the spark trail and the explosion with a long exposure. I waited until they had fired off six more and let the shutter close. I was disappointed to see that the spark trails had been lost, but that I had six perfect orbs apparently floating in a cloudy sky.
Erik R.
I’m not going to speculate. I’m going to wait this one out (with keen interest).
John McCain’s Maverickon Particles, which are dispersed through the aether and which are usually invisible (though they have been known to glow brightly in the presence of corruption (anything you want to tell us, Erik?)). Those who have encountered Maverickons directly report a sense of well-being and safety, and typically find themselves holding a piping-hot bowl of oatmeal (with cinnamon and sugar if they like cinnamon and sugar, and with honey if they like honey).
Just as a preemptive matter, I feel I should point out that some people may not agree with what I have written above. These members of the “angry left” are stuck in a pre-9/11 worldview, and probably also want to take away your Bibles (or copies of Atlas Shrugged, as applicable).
Benign space-terrier (the best kind).
aquariumdrinker
That was good satire. You could write for the Colbert Report. I mean that as a compliment, and even though it hurt to read your words, I know they were both funny and well written.
As for the lights; hopefully, they are just some helicopters or dirigibles.
For me, the arrangement of these orbs remind Ursa Major, aka Great Bear constelation, but incomplete with one star.
Good point, Bunny. I hadn’t seen that.
Coincidentally I came across a video on Youtube which looks very much like yours. Commentary follows as if it was sighted in Augusto 2008, Russia. Let’s see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKa5DCnm8CM
The answer has been posted above. That’s downright freaky how similar that video Bunny linked to is.
I’m a little disappointed that some of you that live in Spain didn’t recognize these as cohetes.
“…chastised me for making an amateur UFO-faker mistake…”
People are SO helpful sometimes.
I knew that it was kinda fake, most likely “photshopped”
But didn’t catch the idea what it could really be. It’s a surprize to me, that the photos are original as are. Nice.
Nevertheless my next guess could had been that these were “weather balloons” ;D