Slashdot Mirror


UFO Evidence From SOHO Satellite

Anonymous Coward writes "EuroSeti is set to reveal during the week of Jan 24-27 National Space Centre in Leicester, UK scientifically sound and verifiable evidence based on observations taken by the SOHO satellite and other satellites that indicate UFOs are present within our solar system. For the past two years, hundreds of extraordinary UFO-like images have been gleaned by a Spanish-based team using two space-based satellites. NASA initially tried to explain the images away as pixel faults, passing meteors or asteroids, etc., but when a European-led consortium presented them with images that clearly were none of the aforementioned, they 'clamped up.'"

21 of 749 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Who knew by Jace+of+Fuse! · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not really very amazing at all. UFO means unidentified. NASA probably see thousands of UFOs a day, but since they're probably just rocks or something, there's no reason to get all excited about a few objects that you found someplace where you expected you would find nothing.

    Supposing this isn't some stupid scam, there's no doubt a simple explaination for what they've seen. They just probably aren't skilled enough to explain it, so their imaginations are running wild.

    --

    "Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"

    Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
  2. image filename: Disney.jpg?? by jungd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The name of the image file on the page is Disney.jpg.

    Hmmm.

    --
    /..sig file not found - permission denied.
  3. UFOs, maybe, maybe not by magi · · Score: 4, Interesting
    ...in the sense of unidentified objects. A few arguments pop into my small amateur astronomer mind:
    • It might be some dynamic physical or electric behaviour in the CCD or optics. The hardware is a few years old, after all, in extreme conditions. Might be water condensating on lenses, might be reflections from ice crystals, might be obscure electric charge dynamics on the CCD.
    • SOHO is located in one of the 5 Lagrange points where it stays at same relative position with both Earth and Sun. Since this is an exceptional point, some space garbage such as rocks or space suit gloves might get stuck in the vicinity of the (unstable) point for some time.
    • UFOs, as flown by some extra-terrestial intelligent beings, might generally be rather small objects. Space is big. SOHO's cameras do not have extremely good resolution and any visible object would have to be either enormous, very bright, or somewhat close to SOHO (and Earth), but between SOHO and Sun. Somehow that wouldn't seem to make much sense.
    • Similar bright objects have not been observed from Earth based observatories, which would mean that it's a local phenomenom to SOHO. This would hint towards the first two possibilities above.
    IANAA, IAAAA.
  4. Science as a belief system by Steve+Franklin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is the basic premise that science is a belief system. To some degree, it is. What is really scary is the number of people who won't even entertain an idea because some "expert" says it's nutso. The plain bald truth is that no one on Earth, scientist or nonscientist alike, has the foggiest idea what's under the surface of Mars, let alone orbitting alpha-Centauri. Try to keep an open mind, fellows.

    --
    Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus.
  5. The term "flying saucer" was a 1947 accident by sbjornda · · Score: 5, Interesting
    From An Aeronautical History of Flying Saucers":
    It is important to bear in mind that the UFO phenomenon kicks off in 1947, in the form we now recognize, as a result of observations made by Kenneth Arnold over Mount Rainier. Paradoxically, Arnold didn't see "flying saucers," rather, he witnessed a formation of nine boomerang-like devices, or "D"-shaped with the straight section aimed backward (the reader will recall the comments made by Justo Miranda regarding this most aerodynamic shape). It was a journalistic error that assigned Arnold the term "flying saucer." What really matters is that the saucer myth spread quickly across the U.S., and then throughout the rest of the world.
  6. Its like the Raelian claims... by Neophytus · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They claim first and prove 'later'. The first group which comes straight out and gives the evidence without some bullshit pseudo-hype before it should be given the publicity they deserve.

    I wonder if this conference will be delayed because of.... a power failure brought on by UFO interferance? Or perhaps they will announce their leader has been abducted and given a probe up the rear end.

  7. Cool video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    http://www.scifi.com/happens/happens_1_big.mov

    And an analysis of the video by a special effects expert:

    http://www.realufos.com/wtcopinion.shtml

    1. Re:Cool video by thasmudyan · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yes, the video is pretty cool. But I don't think it's genuine. Here's why:

      1. The girl is pointing to the tower and says something like "whats that". The reaction of the cameraman is to zoom right in until we see the craft hovering at the side of the building. I know *I* wouldn't have zoomed in instinctively at once if someone just said "look there".

      2. Although the craft is moving *really* fast (exceeding 2000 kph in my opinion) the girl never looses track and continues to point to its exact location. I know that if *I* would ride a helicopter when a strange aircraft is passing by at ludicrous speeds (tm), *I* would be having trouble to track it in real time.

      3. (now the most scientific point) Towards the end of the movie the aircraft passes in front of the helicopter at a speed of, say, at least 2000 kph. We can't be sure about distances here but let's say it's distance to the helicopter was 10 meters at its closest. Now: passing by in front of a brittle thing like a small mid air helicopter WITHOUT even making the helicopter shake a bit? Hell, the air draft alone (not to mention engine exhaust) should have gotten the heli into serious trouble at those speeds!

      Mind you, I don't know a thing about aviation, that's probably why my analysis is wrong. Any pilots around here? I'd like to hear your opinion!

    2. Re:Cool video by OldStash · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's ham-fisted "analysis" like this one that makes a the panic-monger's job even easier.

    3. Re:Cool video by DThorne · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I didn't even need to trace this thread back - I could tell by your description what this was. I work in visual FX, and one time we were toying with the idea of making a ufo hoax as a pr gimmick(we never got around to it). Anyway, I spent a fair bit of time analysing that movie, and I hate to disappoint any abductees out there, but you're right - it's a fake. Even discounting the common sense things you mention, there are motion blur problems with the UFO for those few frames when it zips past and it cuts to the shot straight up. It's obviously a CG element. I also noticed some artifacting issues when they did a hold-back matte for the saucer when it emerged from behind the building.
      It's a *good* fake, mind you! But it's a fake. :)

      DT

  8. A UFO that was in the Sunday Times in Australia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The pic here Very interesting Looking craft.

  9. Sounds too commercial... by popmaker · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "Order the CD NOW!" So, if you would spot an alien, would you start burning CD's with the images and sell them for a few dollars. Hope not!

    And I've seen too many of those, too many people say they have seen aliens. I once sent an e-mail to a site like this, asked them "how the space-ship could have travelled faster than the speed of light" as was said in the article. They never answered.

    I mean... how can we believe people who say they have seen aliens when so many do - and their stories obviously contradict each other. If I decided to believe in aliens, not only would I have to believe that they were orbiting our planet right now, but that there were actually various types of aliens orbiting our planet! And that's just a bit too incredible.

    Just look into a book store, you will find at least one book about people who have seen aliens. As I say - too many!

  10. Re:One question? by Saeger · · Score: 2, Interesting
    the limitation of lightspeed in communication is only really a problem if you assume that the users of it have to worry about time.

    A theorectical Matrioshka Brain can live as long as its star burns. So what's a few million years lagtime between buddies when you live for hundreds of billions of years? Of course, as you think faster, the world outside seems to come to a standstill; like cityfolk observing countrybumpkins. :)

    --

    --
    Power to the Peaceful
  11. Logical reasoning? by Steve+Franklin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What does this have to do with logical reasoning? It has to do with observation and the accurate reporting of observation. The problem is that the scientific establishment has been laughing at anyone who even looks at the evidence for so long that scientists working in observational astronomy are deathly afraid of reporting anything that smacks of forbidden ideas like alien craft in the Solar System. Jacques Vallee has documented the actual destruction of observational data that resulted from this fear. Thankfully, it appears that at least now there is some chance that those who make valid observations will not be afraid of reporting what they have seen.

    As to what you believe, I--and science in general--do not care. I am not interested in convincing you of anything. I am not a missionary. What I do wish you and your compatriots would do is stop ridiculing long enough to allow observational science to deal with the phenomena involved. This could very well be quite serious business. One can only imagine what the local witch doctor told the chief when the first European was sighted off the American shore. We need to learn a bit from our own history.

    --
    Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus.
  12. Take a look at the image closely. by sbaker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When I look at the image at the head of the linked page ("Disney.jpg" - curiously)
    what I see is a VERY low resolution image.

    Look at the red trail behind it. There are a bunch of little raster-aligned
    four-pointed star shapes. (The one on the extreme left is a prime example).

    This is what you get if you take a VERY low resolution image an blow it up
    with simple bilinear blending between the pixels. Taking this as evidence
    of the original image resolution, we can see that the 'spaceship' at the
    righthand end of the image is just about 3 pixels across - but has been
    false-coloured so that the bilinear blending has become magenta and yellow
    bands. Those are not 'real' they are just a part of the false-colouring.

    Isn't it suspicious that the "UFO" is exactly aligned with the raster?

    This is a fake...well, perhaps not exactly a fake - but an intentional
    mis-use of image manipulation to produce an image that was never really
    there.

    You could reproduce this image in GIMP in about 3 minutes flat.

    1) Create a 20x20 RGB image.
    2) Using a 1 pixel brush, paint a diagonal line using bright red.
    3) Fatten one end of the line slightly.

    At this point, your image (if you'd gotten it from a photo of the
    night sky) wouldn't convince you that this was a UFO - would it?
    It could be any kind of a trail, meteor, military jet on afterburner,
    a flare, a firework, anything like that.

    4) Increase the image resolution to 400x400

    Notice how the 'tail' now looks EXACTLY like the one in the
    ufomag web site. Look at the 'star' shapes in the tail.

    So, now let's do some "false-colour enhancement":

    5) Choose 'select by colour' - set the threshold down to nearly
    zero percent and click on a region at the center of the 'head'
    of the trail. Fill it with magenta.

    6) Pick a pixel close to that, fill it with a nice lemon yellow.

    Notice how your image looks startlingly similar to the one
    on the ufomag website. All the artifacts present in their
    image are present in yours.

    Now, I'm not saying that they painted their image in GIMP,
    I'm quite prepared to accept that it's a photo of a real
    world night-sky object. However, the pretty pink and yellow
    spaceship on the right - complete with spooky red glow and
    engine exhaust is no more than a deliberately produced
    artifact.

    The yellow and pink regions are BOTH narrower than the original
    pixel resolution - no feature narrower than TWO pixels wide
    (Nyquist sampling limit) can ever be reconstructed from an
    image.

    Bah. BULLSHIT!!

    --
    www.sjbaker.org
    1. Re:Take a look at the image closely. by IdahoEv · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Okay, that's hilarious. The instant I saw their image, I tried to reproduce it, starting from a 15x11 pixel image in photoshop. THEN I saw this posting.

      Well, here for your viewing enjoyment, are the results of my simulation.

      Cheers,
      Ev

      --
      I stole this sig from someone cleverer than me.
    2. Re:Take a look at the image closely. by superyooser · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Ahh, good work. That may in fact be how the picture came to be.

      However, it's a logical fallacy if you take this to be *proof* that the photo is not real. Almost all night sky views, with or without UFOs, are nothing more than black backgrounds with dots or simple geometric shapes with blurred edges or trails. They're not like rain forest scenes with artistically detailed plants and wildlife (e.g. ferns, parrots, monkeys). Almost any *real* night sky photo would be easy to manually reconstruct in graphics software.

    3. Re:Take a look at the image closely. by sbaker · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No, no, no - you misunderstand me.

      I was very careful to explain that I do NOT believe this to be a 'hand-painted' image, created entirely in Photoshop or GIMP or something.

      I believe this was originally an extremely low resolution (maybe 10 x 10 pixels) image of *something* - I don't know what - and could easily have been taken by NASA.

      That in itself is extremely unremarkable. The original "unenhanced" version
      of this picture would not have convinced anyone that this is a UFO - it would be a minute streak with no discernable features.

      What was done to that image AFTERWARDS is a clear attempt to make it look
      like a truly remarkable image of a spacecraft - and *that* is nothing short of fraudulant.

      Blow up the image resolution of any tiny picture with bilinear interpolation - and then add false colour and you'll get interesting 'non-natural' looking images of things that seem to be spaceships. You could take a 10x10 picture of your dog and make it look like a UFO. However, there was never any information in the original low resolution image to indicate anything more than a fuzzy blob.

      So, the fact that I could paint something that looks like their image isn't
      proof that they also painted it. It is, however a CLEAR demonstration that inappropriate use of image enhancement techniques can turn a totally non-convincing handful of red pixels into something that *looks* to the uninitiated just like a photograph of a spacecraft. My 'source' image is DEFINITELY nothing but a meaningless blob of pixels. After "enhancement" it looks just as convincing as theirs. Since my final image most emphatically does not prove that a painting of a spacecraft was 'hidden' in the original image - neither does their picture prove that there was a UFO in the original NASA image.

      This is a fraud - pure and simple - and that doesn't in any way depend on whether the original source of that handful of pixels was from NASA or anywhere else.

      What's interesting to me is whether the person who produced the image from the original 10x10 pixel NASA photo *deliberately* tried to turn it into a spaceship - or whether they were simply so ignorant of the tools they were using that they truly believed they could pull a detailed picture of a spacecraft from so little input data by 'enhancing' it.

      I want to see the ORIGINAL, unenhanced NASA image at it's original resolution. Let me examine that image for myself - then maybe I'll be convinced. I doubt it.

      --
      www.sjbaker.org
  13. Re:Not it doesn't by the_2nd_coming · · Score: 2, Interesting

    and setting up an intervle of measurment and then combining groups of measurment intervles

    like:

    measure-rest-measure-rest-rest

    that would then while transfering random information will be a meaningfull patern....like a telegraph.....we do not analise the wire to get information, we analize the electrtic current patters of on-off-on-off.

    --



    I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
  14. Simple explanation by titaniam · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This looks to me like an image of an ordinary star saturating the ccd (the cross), with some small portion of the exposure time suffering from a tracking problem (the diagonal smear). Many telescopes have a cross-shaped support for the imaging device within the light path, and what results is a cross-shaped diffraction peak around bright stars. Or, saturation of the pixels under a bright image bleeds out along the principal directions of the ccd. Notice how the cross is aligned with the up and down directions of the image?

  15. Re:Who knew by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Major Gordon Cooper to the United Nations: "I believe that these extra-terrestrial vehicles and their crews are visiting this planet from other planets... Most astronauts were reluctant to discuss UFOs." "I did have occasion in 1951 to have two days of observation of many flights of them, of different sizes, flying in fighter formation, generally from east to west over Europe."

    It is time for the truth to be brought out... Behind the scenes
    high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. But
    through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the
    unknown flying objects are nonsense.... I urge immediate Congressional
    action to reduce the dangers from secrecy about unidentified flying objects.
    Former CIA Director Vice Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter, signed
    statement to Congress, August 22, 1960.
    __________________________________________________
    We have, indeed, been contacted -- perhaps even visited -- by
    extraterrestrial beings, and the US government, in collusion with the other
    national powers of the Earth, is determined to keep this information from
    the general public.
    Victor Marchetti, former Special Assistant to the Executive Director
    of the CIA, in an article written by him for Second Look entitled "How the CIA
    views the UFO Phenomenon", Vol 1, No 7, Washington, DC, May, 1979.

    A great man of science once told us:
    "When, however, in the course of UFO investigations one encounters
    many cases , the probability that a new phenomenon was not
    observed becomes very small, and it gets smaller still as the number of
    cases increases. The chances, then, that something really new is involved
    are very great, and any gambler given such odds would not hesitate for a
    moment to place a large bet. This point bears emphasis. Any one UFO case,
    if taken by itself without regard to the accumulated worldwide data
    (assuming that these have already been passed through the "UFO filter"),
    can almost always be dismissed by assuming that in that particular case a
    very unusual set of circumstances occurred, of low probability (but strange
    things and coincidences of extremely low probability do sometimes occur).
    But when cases of this sort accumulate in noticeable numbers, it no longer
    is scientifically correct to apply the reasoning one applies to a single
    isolated case Thus, the chance that a thoroughly investigated UFO case
    with excellent witnesses can be ascribed to a misperception is certainly
    very small, but it is finite. However, to apply the same argument to a
    sizable collection of similar cases is not logical since the compounded
    probability of their all having been due to misperceptions is comparable to
    the probability that if in one throw of a coin it stands on edge, it will
    stand on edge every time it is thrown".

    J. Allen Hynek said it very well