"UFOs" Cornwall July 12th 2025 (reflections of garden lights)

[Morgan987]

 

[Morgan987]

Hi on July 12th I took a picture of the sun setting over the south coast of Cornwall (Fowey) from my back garden just because it looked great, a few weeks later I was slipping through my photos and noticed something in the sky which I cannot explain, it's likely a drone or something similar? I wasn't sure what to do with the photos but ChatGPT suggested I post them here. I'm hoping someone can explain what was incidentally captured flying through the sky to help put my mind at rest. Many thanks

 

[Mick West]

They are reflections of the three LED garden spotlights

 

[Mendel]

a few weeks later I was slipping through my photos

this is generally a strong indication that you're looking at a camera artifact; if it wasn't, you'd have noticed the lights when you were there and took the picture.

Lens reflection are usually exactly opposite, across the exact center of the image, i.e. if you connect each LED light with its sky reflection in the opposite corner, the 3 lines meet in the center.

Mick rotated the image 180⁰ and superimposed it, to prove it matches.

 

[Ann K]

OT perhaps, but why is it dark enough for everyone to turn on their outdoor lights when the sun is still above the horizon?

 

[JMartJr]

Another way to see it...

 

[John J.]

OT perhaps, but why is it dark enough for everyone to turn on their outdoor lights when the sun is still above the horizon?

It does look very dark for a sunset in Cornwall in July, there's quite a long twilight at that time of year.

Is it maybe the moon, @Morgan987?
I'm wondering if you took the photos at night, but flicking through them a few weeks later forgot the circumstances and at a glance assumed it was sunset.

I will happily admit I know very little about photography, and I don't know if using a contemporary camera shooting towards the sun might cause the surroundings to look so dark. But the garden lights are on, and I'd guess they'd be hardly visible before sunset (or for a while after) in July.

From timeanddate.com website, https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/@2638853?month=7&year=2025:
Figures are for St Austell, approx. 7 miles/ 11.3 km to the west of Fowey (full moon on the 10th).

Edited to add: I think there might be a few stars visible, especially on the right of the picture?

 

[Trailblazer]

I agree that that looks very much like the moon, not the sun. It is close to the horizon so looks reddish due to light scattering (maybe taken on a day when there was Saharan dust and/or smoke from the Canadian wildfires adding to the haze?)

 

[Trailblazer]

Yes, it is the moon rising rather than the sun setting. The stars match up shortly after moonrise, so just after 11pm on July 12.

 

[Trailblazer]

Mick rotated the image 180⁰ and superimposed it, to prove it matches.

Another way for @Morgan987 to reassure themselves would be to have a close look at the garden lights - you'll see a pattern of eight LEDs that match the lights in the sky. The images of the lights themselves are too bright for the camera to pick up the individual LEDs, so you just see a single glare, but the reflection is dimmer so you can see the actual structure of the light source.

From a quick Google, they are probably something like these solar powered ones?

 

[Ann K]

It does look very dark for a sunset in Cornwall in July, there's quite a long twilight at that time of year.

I was once in Wick, near the most northern point of the mainland of Scotland, in mid July. There was a noisy rookery near our hotel, and I thought they'd shut up once it got dark.
It never got dark enough.

 

[NorCal Dave]

I wasn't sure what to do with the photos but ChatGPT suggested I post them here.

I'll take that suggestion as a positive bit of news in the AI world.

 

[Mick West]

For fun (and some ground truth checking), I put this into Sitrec

https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?cu...oonrise garden reflections/20251010_002725.js

Interestingly, while the stars all match perfectly, the Moon is about 0.25* too high. This is due to atmospheric refraction, which lifts up things near the horizon. Stars would also be affected, but they are a lot harder to see near the horizon

 

[Morgan987]

OT perhaps, but why is it dark enough for everyone to turn on their outdoor lights when the sun is still above the horizon?

That's the moon you can see on the horizon, the lights are solar lights

 

[Morgan987]

It does look very dark for a sunset in Cornwall in July, there's quite a long twilight at that time of year.

Is it maybe the moon, @Morgan987?
I'm wondering if you took the photos at night, but flicking through them a few weeks later forgot the circumstances and at a glance assumed it was sunset.

I will happily admit I know very little about photography, and I don't know if using a contemporary camera shooting towards the sun might cause the surroundings to look so dark. But the garden lights are on, and I'd guess they'd be hardly visible before sunset (or for a while after) in July.

From timeanddate.com website, https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/@2638853?month=7&year=2025:
Figures are for St Austell, approx. 7 miles/ 11.3 km to the west of Fowey (full moon on the 10th).

View attachment 84929



Edited to add: I think there might be a few stars visible, especially on the right of the picture?

Yes it was the moon

 

[Morgan987]

They are reflections of the three LED garden spotlightsView attachment 84923

View attachment 84922

That makes sense, thank you

 

[Morgan987]

Another way for @Morgan987 to reassure themselves would be to have a close look at the garden lights - you'll see a pattern of eight LEDs that match the lights in the sky. The images of the lights themselves are too bright for the camera to pick up the individual LEDs, so you just see a single glare, but the reflection is dimmer so you can see the actual structure of the light source.

From a quick Google, they are probably something like these solar powered ones?

View attachment 84935

Thank you

 

[Morgan987]

this is generally a strong indication that you're looking at a camera artifact; if it wasn't, you'd have noticed the lights when you were there and took the picture.

Lens reflection are usually exactly opposite, across the exact center of the image, i.e. if you connect each LED light with its sky reflection in the opposite corner, the 3 lines meet in the center.

Mick rotated the image 180⁰ and superimposed it, to prove it matches.

Thank you

 

[John J.]

Is there broad agreement that the picture has been explained?

The rings of eight lights, apparently in the sky, are reflections of the lights in the garden. Their positions re. each other, and when the image is rotated, match.
A mistake in remembering the time that the photo was taken leads to error in assessing how objectively bright the scene was at the time (much darker than at sunset) and a misperception of the brightness of the lights that appear to be in the sky (the reflections).

Maybe the thread title should be changed/ added to?

 

[Trailblazer]

Is there broad agreement that the picture has been explained?

The rings of eight lights, apparently in the sky, are reflections of the lights in the garden. Their positions re. each other, and when the image is rotated, match.
A mistake in remembering the time that the photo was taken leads to error in assessing how objectively bright the scene was at the time (much darker than at sunset) and a misperception of the brightness of the lights that appear to be in the sky (the reflections).

Maybe the thread title should be changed/ added to?

Yes, the original poster had replied but the posts were not visible as they had to be approved. I will amend the title.

 

[John J.]

That makes sense, thank you

This has been fun. I guess it might be a bit disappointing that your photo hasn't captured anything mysterious, but it is an excellent example of how reflections can cause interesting effects on photographs / video clips that might be seen as something unusual.
And it's still an interesting photo that you can tease friends with!

Don't know if you've had time to look around the forum, but Luis Elizondo (a big name in UFO lore) described this as a "mothership" over a Romanian town a couple of years ago,

...it's a reflection of the ceiling lamp in the apartment from where the photo was taken.
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/el...flection-of-a-light-fixture.13726/post-326205

Hope you enjoy looking around and stay involved here @Morgan987.