STS 114 UFO

[ToSeek]

The GLPers are going nuts over this. (http://www.hbccufo.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3207) I rather doubt that it's an alien spacecraft, but it does seem somewhat odd. (If you play the clip, feel free to forward it to about halfway through as nothing happens until then - not sure why they included such a long period with nothing happening.)

[Anla'Shok]

Could it have been light from the approching dawn "playing" in the lens?

[Faultline]

I can't watch the video, but I looked at the stills. Was the camera inside the shuttle? If so, maybe it was reflected interior lights.

I saw a debunking of similar images from the shuttle. The little lights turned out to be offshore oil platforms. Not that I think there are that many OOP's in the pacific, but maybe ships at sea CAN be seen from orbit! They're only 400-500 km up, a bright enough light source can be seen from that distance in darkness with clear atmosphere conditions.

So can city lights. There are some cities on some South Pacific islands, too.

[Kesh]

I've seen this video before, on a television program about UFOs. GLPers are just late to the party. ;) No, it was not STS 114, because if this is the video I remember, it was filmed at least two years ago.

The object does move rapidly at about a 45 degree angle from the lower right of the screen most of the way to the upper left before apparently slowing and stopping... then running on a parallel to the top of the camera back to the right, appearing to accelerate.

I remember there being a reasonable explanation for it, but not what the explanation was.

[Archer17]

I've seen this video before, on a television program about UFOs. GLPers are just late to the party. ;) No, it was not STS 114, because if this is the video I remember, it was filmed at least two years ago.

The object does move rapidly at about a 45 degree angle from the lower right of the screen most of the way to the upper left before apparently slowing and stopping... then running on a parallel to the top of the camera back to the right, appearing to accelerate.

I remember there being a reasonable explanation for it, but not what the explanation was.Are you sure you're not thinking of the STS-48 footage (the "UFO" that looked like it dodged a "particle beam?"), that one was effectively debunked (http://www.igs.net/~hwt/zigzag.html)* .. but this footage I never saw before.

I'm in "suspended judgement" mode on this one.

*STS-48 link written by James Oberg (http://www.jamesoberg.com/profile.html).

[eburacum45]

Some thoughts; the motionless points of light are probably neither ships, cities, or stars- at the orbital speed of the Shuttle, you can see the surface of the Earth and any lights on it move visibly. Therefore those are foreground artefacts- probably ice on the window or on the lens of the camera, or simply ice particles orbiting with the Shuttle in space- most of them don't move very much in relation to each other, so that last option seems unlikely.

Now I have seen objects do strange things before on Shuttle films- the explanation generally is that an attitude jet has fired, sending small particles away from the ship and simultaneously changing the position and roll characteristics of the ship. This complex relationship between the ice particle(s) and the ship (and any cameras on board cause the ice particles to appear to describe curved paths in space as the ship rolls or accelerates.
I expect that is what is happening here.

[genebujold]

The first moving light was entirely consistant with another satellite.

The movement of the second light was entirely inconsistant with another satellite, even if the two satellites (taking pictures and being photographed) were in such relative motion as to be exchanging altitudes at vast differential rates.

Nope - it's either either a fake, or the real thing.

[Archer17]

This clip is intriguing and I don't think it's a fake, but I'm not ready to have a paradigm shift regarding my skepticism of UFOs being ET spacecraft just yet. ;) I did some net-trawling and read everything from aliens to meteors skipping off the atmosphere proposed as possible explanations and decided to make inquiries to both NASA and James Oberg to see if I can get a credible explanation. (I'll plug the board while I'm at it :cool: ).

[eburacum45]

I think that sighting a satellite from the Shuttle will be a rare event, and should be fairly easy to predict. Is there anyy data on sightings of passing satellites from orbiting spacecraft available?

That is why I don't think that these lights are UFO's either; the chance of an alien craft being visible in space from a manned craft is minute.
Space is big- even near-Earth space is big. Much bigger than the thin layer of atmosphere below. For one spacecraft to come within visual range of another would be a very rare event; yet the woo-woos seem to think it happens all the time.

On the other hand, it is known that manned craft are generally accompanied by a cloud of ice particles, which move whenever the verniers are fired; that is the most likely explanation by far.

[genebujold]

I think that sighting a satellite from the Shuttle will be a rare event, and should be fairly easy to predict.

Actually, it's a very comment event.



So many that they don't bother.

[quote]That is why I don't think that these lights are UFO's either; the chance of an alien craft being visible in space from a manned craft is minute.
Space is big- even near-Earth space is big. Much bigger than the thin layer of atmosphere below. For one spacecraft to come within visual range of another would be a very rare event; yet the woo-woos seem to think it happens all the time.

Actually, it does happen all the time. Any spacecraft with a reflective surface is visible from any other spacecraft. Happens all the time. If you look up on any given night, between 2 and 4 hours of sunset, towards the West, you'll see the dots of orbiting satellites (plural) transiting the sky West to East. Note - you must be away from city lights, but in the country, they're there!