jarlrmai
Senior Member.
Yeah when you set the drone to the height given and the FOV to match the lake size then the view when the drone looks at the fields doesn't match
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Ukrainian drone footage of 6 pointed star
- Thread starter Harabeck
- Start date
Giddierone
Senior Member.
Tilt-rotor hexadrones that can hover at an angle have existed for a while.
Source: https://youtu.be/Sgd0i87r9-0?si=DTlFfiHoVXzMXGYb
It'd be nice to narrow down the size of the thing with the sitrec magic. I'm not sure conventional drones would give off that exhaust though and agriculture drones are pretty limited in altitude.
Considering the context of a recon drone scouting russian territory, I could see counter measures like russian parachute flares to light up the sky in order to make the tiny recon drones visible.
I'm not sure how they'd look in infrared but if it's drifting down slowly with the drone then maybe it would appear to maintain the kind of pov we see. It'd also give off that exhaust type thing in the video. Though even in the picture attached, you can see the exhaust trails are erratic and not a smooth motion.
Considering the context of a recon drone scouting russian territory, I could see counter measures like russian parachute flares to light up the sky in order to make the tiny recon drones visible.
I'm not sure how they'd look in infrared but if it's drifting down slowly with the drone then maybe it would appear to maintain the kind of pov we see. It'd also give off that exhaust type thing in the video. Though even in the picture attached, you can see the exhaust trails are erratic and not a smooth motion.
jarlrmai
Senior Member.
And it just coincidentally rotated with the filming drone?
Giddierone
Senior Member.
Now you're just moving the goal posts.
Giddierone
Senior Member.
Some old footage of drones in IR referenced here:
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/wh...foia-release-from-the-drive.12465/post-272294
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/wh...foia-release-from-the-drive.12465/post-272294
jarlrmai
Senior Member.
How? A hexacopter was my first thought as well but I don't think it fits what we see, the goalposts are the same, the camera rotates, the object doesn't. A hexacopter would have to rotate exactly matching the filming drone to be possible
Well, it could be a hexacopter, but the "star" is still a camera artifact. I just don't see how it could be anything else, since extra "spikes" seem to appear from nowhere when the camera moves, and the "star" stays level on screen throughout the whole film. I don't think we need to speculate about star-shaped flying objects.
Giddierone
Senior Member.
I agree it looks weird, like a 2D sprite in an old shooter that follows you as you turn.
FastIndy
Active Member
*Edit, looks like I missed jarlrmai's post with pretty much the same info here:
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/ukrainian-drone-footage-of-6-pointed-star.14880/#post-368924
These are parameters from a On Screen Display (OSD), commonly used on first-person view (FPV) unmanned aerial systems. Most of the systems in use today were developed from recreational FPV quadcopters. These use a processor on the drone that takes in the video feed from the camera and overlay critical things like battery status onto stream that gets transmitted back to the operator. It's like a heads-up display. Specifically, this is probably from a drone using Betaflight flight controller firmware, and this is the post-flight statistics screen.
"Total ARM" = ~ probably active armed (on) time or something like that
"MIN BATTERY" = Lowest battery voltage (18.14V)
"MIN RSSI" = Minimum signal strength (for the user's transmitter TO the UAS flight controller)
"USED MAH" = Used milliamp hours. 5462 indicates that this is not a large drone.
"BLACKBOX" = Blackbox logging buffer. I believe this would mean that the rolling buffer of blackbox data that can be stored on the flight controller is completely full.
I'm not sure what battery voltages they are using over there, but to me, the OSD indicates a small quadcopter sized FPV drone. ~18V depleted would be a 5S or 6S* battery configuration, and 5400 mAh is not a lot.
Edit to mention that you never really want to see the post-flight statistics screen unless you're done flying. Also here's the link to the Betaflight OSD page:
https://betaflight.com/docs/wiki/app/osd-tab
Final comment is that I really want to see where the ecliptic plane falls on the video. Is it possible that this is extreme glare from the sun and reflections from the ground?
*Another edit to correct battery voltage
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Ann K
Senior Member.
It looks from your first clip as if that's not a radial spike, but one from the "nose" instead, seen in a somewhat sideways view for a brief moment. Might that be connecting The Thing (for want of a better name) to the drone or camera housing?
Hi.
You found the exact location with the fields. If it turns out that AI generation is involved, it would likely only concern the object itself.
The object's unusual sharpness, the fact that the rotation of the six branches is synchronized with the camera's rotation, their distortion over a few frames, and the fact that the object remains in the same position relative to the drone despite the drone's decrease in altitude lead me to believe that it is actually an object—in my opinion, an impact—located within the protective spherical glass surrounding the camera, and that the six branches are luminous due to diffraction. The air inside the glass escapes outward through this spot, cools, and condenses upon contact with the cold outside temperature.
You found the exact location with the fields. If it turns out that AI generation is involved, it would likely only concern the object itself.
The object's unusual sharpness, the fact that the rotation of the six branches is synchronized with the camera's rotation, their distortion over a few frames, and the fact that the object remains in the same position relative to the drone despite the drone's decrease in altitude lead me to believe that it is actually an object—in my opinion, an impact—located within the protective spherical glass surrounding the camera, and that the six branches are luminous due to diffraction. The air inside the glass escapes outward through this spot, cools, and condenses upon contact with the cold outside temperature.
According to the following link it does not seem to be "overstated", as of earlier this year at least. But of course I have no idea if this is accurate, so I'm probably wrong.
https://mod.gov.ua/en/news/mykhailo...-beskrestnov-as-adviser-on-defense-technology
Starflint
Senior Member
The question is, if a hexacopter drone is carrying a heavy load of liquid and is currently spraying, can it still maintain a tilted hover?
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Starflint
Senior Member
I compared some images of hexacopter drones captured in white-hot mode by FPV drones on the Russia-Ukraine battlefield, which can be compared with "UAP." Assuming UAPs are drones, the support underneath the drone seems to be missing, and the arm configuration appears different. Moreover, even when the UAP at a certain distance from the FPV drone in the video do not look entirely similar，Furthermore, there were no visible air disturbances
https://neskhodimov.com/landscapes/an-alarmingly-disturbed-landscape/
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1szzk5m/russian_fpv_drones_take_out_a_number_of_ukrainian/
https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/584847-drones-rusos-siembran-panico-ucranianos
https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/568995-lluvia-drones-rusos-acaba-artilleria-ucrania
Source: https://x.com/mog_russEN/status/2054163416462585933/photo/4
https://neskhodimov.com/landscapes/an-alarmingly-disturbed-landscape/
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1szzk5m/russian_fpv_drones_take_out_a_number_of_ukrainian/
https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/584847-drones-rusos-siembran-panico-ucranianos
https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/568995-lluvia-drones-rusos-acaba-artilleria-ucrania
Source: https://x.com/mog_russEN/status/2054163416462585933/photo/4
Attachments
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Giddierone
Senior Member.
Maybe it's just turbulence.
Ann K
Senior Member.
Hi, Hotday!
Interesting thought about the cloud being the condensate of warmer air escaping, but it continues for longer than I would have thought possible for that effect to show. The Thing only appears briefly in the video, but it does show up at the start, the middle, and the end. You'd need a heck of a lot of warm humid air and a considerable pressure difference to keep producing that cloud, wouldn't you?
JMartJr
Senior Member.
How did the gas become pressurized, especially with there being this hole!
ALso, as a drone descends, the pressure around it would INCREASE, if the dome were sealed other than the hole, wouldn't air be coming INTO the dome as the exterior pressure increases?
Yes, you're right—as the altitude decreases, air should flow in :/
I have no idea what conditions are needed for this to last more than a few seconds.
This idea does indeed seem flawed for the reason mentioned above.
Todd Feinman
Senior Member
If the air in the dome was warm then it would go out through a hole, cold air coming in, in the denser lower atmosphere. Would it go out through the little hole only and not the other cracks? I'm not saying that's what it is. No idea.
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john.phil
Senior Member.
As noted in the thread, the footage was recorded by a small drone that can only fly for about 5 minutes, according to the Betaflight OSD information. Consequently, this specific drone model is better suited for a rapid reconnaissance of the surroundings than for offensive operations. It was fitted with a fixed IR camera, similar to the JS mini 640. More about this later.
The drone was likely launched from a Ukrainian defensive position, and flew generally straight up until it reached 800m. After a few minutes of flight, the battery died.
Based on the geolocation, the star-shaped figure was positioned between northeast and east:
At one point, the drone operator performs a 360° turn to look around their position. By constructing a panorama from the section of the footage where the 360° turn was recorded, it is possible to estimate the angular separation between the two objects. According to the panorama below, the objects were approximately 145° apart (347° - 202° = 145°):
If the star-shaped object was indeed just the Sun, the footage would have been recorded early in the morning, given the generally easterly direction of its position. The other bright object could potentially be the Moon.
If the location of the footage is entered into Stellarium, several candidate dates for the footage are revealed. Particularly, on 16th May 2025 early in the morning at around 05:30 local time, both the Sun and the Moon were low on the horizon at roughly 5° elevation. At that time, the Sun was between NE and E, and the angular separation between the Moon and the Sun was 144° (210° - 66° = 144°), matching the panorama. Other dates also fit, considering the uncertainty around the angular separation within the footage, as the panorama was not specifically adjusted for the camera's parameters and distortion, as they are unknown.
The Moon was in gibbous phase with 90% illumination on 16th May, and the terminator was at the drone's right-hand side. A comparison between Stellarium's prediction and a frame taken from the footage is provided:
One possible reason why the heat source looks like a star-shaped object, aside from it potentially being an artefact solely generated by a cheap IR camera under the right conditions, is that the drone operator may have not removed the transparent protective film from the lens of newly supplied drones before taking off. A transparent film in front of the lens can cause diffraction spikes.
Sergey Flash, who originally published the footage, warned operators to ensure they remove the protective film from thermal cameras before flying:
The camera above closely resembles the Chinese-supplied JS Mini 640 thermal camera, which requires a custom-made protective casing and mounting bracket, as expected when assembling drones from off-the-shelf parts:
source1: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008040746098.html
source2: https://ae-pic-a1.aliexpress-media....2bdb4bd5d7883e960b1F.jpg_960x960q75.jpg_.avif
The smoke seemingly emanating from the heat source looks more like rain falling from a cloud that just happens to be aligned with the Sun and the drone.
Now, viewing the drone footage with the rain cloud in mind, the cloud seems to surround the heat source and extend above it, which is what would be expected if by chance the Sun was apparently inside the cloud from the drone's perspective.
The perceived three-dimensional quality of the object appears to result, in part, from pareidolia.
The drone was likely launched from a Ukrainian defensive position, and flew generally straight up until it reached 800m. After a few minutes of flight, the battery died.
Based on the geolocation, the star-shaped figure was positioned between northeast and east:
At one point, the drone operator performs a 360° turn to look around their position. By constructing a panorama from the section of the footage where the 360° turn was recorded, it is possible to estimate the angular separation between the two objects. According to the panorama below, the objects were approximately 145° apart (347° - 202° = 145°):
If the star-shaped object was indeed just the Sun, the footage would have been recorded early in the morning, given the generally easterly direction of its position. The other bright object could potentially be the Moon.
If the location of the footage is entered into Stellarium, several candidate dates for the footage are revealed. Particularly, on 16th May 2025 early in the morning at around 05:30 local time, both the Sun and the Moon were low on the horizon at roughly 5° elevation. At that time, the Sun was between NE and E, and the angular separation between the Moon and the Sun was 144° (210° - 66° = 144°), matching the panorama. Other dates also fit, considering the uncertainty around the angular separation within the footage, as the panorama was not specifically adjusted for the camera's parameters and distortion, as they are unknown.
The Moon was in gibbous phase with 90% illumination on 16th May, and the terminator was at the drone's right-hand side. A comparison between Stellarium's prediction and a frame taken from the footage is provided:
One possible reason why the heat source looks like a star-shaped object, aside from it potentially being an artefact solely generated by a cheap IR camera under the right conditions, is that the drone operator may have not removed the transparent protective film from the lens of newly supplied drones before taking off. A transparent film in front of the lens can cause diffraction spikes.
Sergey Flash, who originally published the footage, warned operators to ensure they remove the protective film from thermal cameras before flying:
source: t.me/serhii_flash/7277External Quote:
The camera above closely resembles the Chinese-supplied JS Mini 640 thermal camera, which requires a custom-made protective casing and mounting bracket, as expected when assembling drones from off-the-shelf parts:
source1: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008040746098.html
source2: https://ae-pic-a1.aliexpress-media....2bdb4bd5d7883e960b1F.jpg_960x960q75.jpg_.avif
The smoke seemingly emanating from the heat source looks more like rain falling from a cloud that just happens to be aligned with the Sun and the drone.
Now, viewing the drone footage with the rain cloud in mind, the cloud seems to surround the heat source and extend above it, which is what would be expected if by chance the Sun was apparently inside the cloud from the drone's perspective.
The perceived three-dimensional quality of the object appears to result, in part, from pareidolia.
boguesuser
Active Member
For it to be hexacopter, it would need to be rotated 90° and would not be able to hover. You also see it rotating with the drone so the spikes are far more likely to be a camera artefact than an actually object.
Edit: I've responded to the wrong post. I don't feel like fixing it.
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Todd Feinman
Senior Member
I was thinking of that too, or that the dome itself had some film as part of design.
john.phil
Senior Member.
Like a gimbal protective cover used for transporting and storing the drone safely?
source: https://rcdrone.top/products/gimbal-lens-cap-protector-for-dji-mavic-2-pro-zoom-drone
Starflint
Senior Member
Can anyone analyze from a professional CGI perspective whether this could be special effects? The last similar video was the Chita zombie incident in Russia, which was ultimately confirmed to be a viral marketing campaign for the game S.T.A for the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl by the Ukrainian game company GSC Game World.
https://redlcc.org/2015/03/26/zombies-atacan-a-soldado-ruso-explicacion/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://redlcc.org/2015/03/26/zombies-atacan-a-soldado-ruso-explicacion/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
I had found these gimbal covers too. However the issue with the Gimbals on DJI Type drones is that they really only move up and down and rely on the yaw positioning of the drone to provide horizontal (left and right) movement. In this case the object doesnt move as the drone yaws - it is in a relatively static point in the sky - which kinda suggests it is a real object at an unknown distance (maybe far?) from the drone. But equally the observation that the spikes don't roll as the drone rolls, nor does it rise as the drone descends, suggests that it is related to the optics. So like @john.phil suggetsed above, this makes me think it might be a bright object like the sun or a flare.
Edit - @john.phil - nice panorama, one thing I immediately noticed was the change in the brightness of greyscale image towards the edges. This shows a change in the automatic gain control (AGC) of the camera, which suggests that the object in the scene is bright and causes the gain to reduce.
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