everything has been ruled out! it's a reflection on the window the camera was pointed through! who knows what it was, maybe tracklights, the photographer's toy lightsaber, a beam on the ceiling and a wall sconce... we have to let it go and move on.
one thing that everyone is overlooking: if you look at all three photos, you'll notice that the "light pole" is actually the mast of a sailboat on the other side of the pier. look closely and calmly at the before and after shots. you can just see the rigging on the mast.
the light poles on the pier are regularly spaced, of one consistent height, and have obvious light fixtures on top. the other vertical elements (irregularly spaced, of differing heights, with no obvious light fixtures) are boat masts, including the pole that is intimately involved with the mysterious phenomenon.
some masts have running lights atop them, but those are generally very small. the "exploding bulb" theory is completely invalid, i think.
also, as several posters have mentioned, the sunlight on the clouds indicate that the sun is below the horizon to the right and behind the photographer. on another list, the guy who supplied the photo said it was early in the morning when he took the pictures. there's no sun to reflect off of anything down by the water, unless it's off the clouds first.
there's definitely no way that a contrail could leave a shadow at that angle, despite what many very confident posters would have you believe. sun shadows are parallel to sunlight! it's not a contrail shadow! it's not anticrepuscular rays! it's not heilegenschein, a halo, a corona, the glory, or a rainbow!
and besides, none of the various aspects of the phenomenon appear in the photos immediately preceeding and succeeding the photo in question. most of the possibilities discussed would last longer than a few seconds.
the bug hypothesis has not been soundly eliminated. otherwise, it must be a photographic artifact. was the photo taken from inside? could the phenomenon be a reflection off the inside of a window? so many great ufo photos were just some guy's watch reflecting off the glass...
Slashdot Mirror
read the previous posts! it's not a contrail shadow!
everything has been ruled out! it's a reflection on the window the camera was pointed through! who knows what it was, maybe tracklights, the photographer's toy lightsaber, a beam on the ceiling and a wall sconce... we have to let it go and move on.
one thing that everyone is overlooking: if you look at all three photos, you'll notice that the "light pole" is actually the mast of a sailboat on the other side of the pier. look closely and calmly at the before and after shots. you can just see the rigging on the mast. the light poles on the pier are regularly spaced, of one consistent height, and have obvious light fixtures on top. the other vertical elements (irregularly spaced, of differing heights, with no obvious light fixtures) are boat masts, including the pole that is intimately involved with the mysterious phenomenon. some masts have running lights atop them, but those are generally very small. the "exploding bulb" theory is completely invalid, i think. also, as several posters have mentioned, the sunlight on the clouds indicate that the sun is below the horizon to the right and behind the photographer. on another list, the guy who supplied the photo said it was early in the morning when he took the pictures. there's no sun to reflect off of anything down by the water, unless it's off the clouds first. there's definitely no way that a contrail could leave a shadow at that angle, despite what many very confident posters would have you believe. sun shadows are parallel to sunlight! it's not a contrail shadow! it's not anticrepuscular rays! it's not heilegenschein, a halo, a corona, the glory, or a rainbow! and besides, none of the various aspects of the phenomenon appear in the photos immediately preceeding and succeeding the photo in question. most of the possibilities discussed would last longer than a few seconds. the bug hypothesis has not been soundly eliminated. otherwise, it must be a photographic artifact. was the photo taken from inside? could the phenomenon be a reflection off the inside of a window? so many great ufo photos were just some guy's watch reflecting off the glass...