Bioluminescent UFO over Beijing (Window Reflection)

[flarkey]

So another video is getting traction on Reddit and Twitter and has also been picked up by the UAP files podcast....


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/aliens/comments/1gmm3r5/unexplained_cylindrical_flying_object_filmed_over/



Source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DB_1VoMtjMH/?igsh=M3VibnE0MWp5M3Ft

It looks like a reflection on a car window - i think the strobing orange lights are just reflections of the passing streetlights. The green light appears just before the car passes an illuminated green street sign, suggesting that it is a reflection of the sign.

The 'ufo' passes infront of the streetsign at the 17sec mark, indicating that it is a reflection in the glass...

I also think the angle of the object is off - it should be either horizontal or vertical.

What could it be?

 

[Ann K]

What could it be?

The reflection of lights on a shiny object with a flaring end inside the moving car. Possibly a bottle top, or the ferrule on either end of an umbrella.

 

[JMartJr]

or the ferrule on either end of an umbrella.

Interesting... I think you may be on to something...

Source: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Daily-Us...a-Handle-Umbrella-Grip-Replacement/5034803261

I doubt this is going to be related to anything, but it reminds me a bit of the way the waving cilia on a comb-jelly reflect/refract light:

I don't think it IS a jelly, and I can't think of an analogous item that would ride inside a car (or fly just outside one), but point it out in case it sparks an idea for somebody.

 

[Mendel]

Why do the lights move in two opposite directions?

 

[jarlrmai]

comb-jelly reflect/refract light:

Is that not bioluminescence?

 

[Alytha]

Is that not bioluminescence?

Comb jellies can do bioluminescence, but in this case, it's cilia that move and refract light.
Reference: https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/comb-jelly

 

[flarkey]

Why do the lights move in two opposite directions?

They are street lights on opposite sides of the road reflecting as the car drives along the road.

 

[Alytha]

It does look a lot like the very shiny grip of a small furled umbrella, I think one can see the little metal points on the ends of the spokes? Or am I just telling myself that to reinforce my conclusion?
That would be an object that one could reasonably expect to be present in a car as well.

 

[JMartJr]

It does look a lot like the very shiny grip of a small furled umbrella, I think one can see the little metal points on the ends of the spokes? Or am I just telling myself that to reinforce my conclusion?

I don't see those, but I think I see what may be the button to pop the umbrella open on the end -- like you, I am wondering if I am seeing what fits my interpretation of what is there, rather than what is there!

 

[Alytha]

I don't see those, but I think I see what may be the button to pop the umbrella open on the end -- like you, I am wondering if I am seeing what fits my interpretation of what is there, rather than what is there!

View attachment 72888

Yeah, actually, in the video I see the little points that I thought were little bits of metal in the still pic are actually reflections too.
Another thing it reminded me of was a knob for a radiator, it would match the colour and shape. Size is a bit more difficult. Would it be that shiny though? And why would you have it out in your car, unless you noticed how shiny it was and how prettily it reflected the lights outside?

 

[flarkey]

I think it is something being reflected off the interior of the front windscreen, and therefore is something below it - like a part of the interior car trim or the steering wheel stalk. It is really hard to see what is around the white reflective part.

 

[Mendel]

They are street lights on opposite sides of the road reflecting as the car drives along the road.

I do not understand how that would make them move in the other direction. They'd still move front-to-back.

 

[MyMatesBrainwashed]

The 'ufo' passes infront of the streetsign at the 17sec mark, indicating that it is a reflection in the glass...

Kinda weird that's left in cos it's a great indicator of what's going on.

I don't think the "object" has anything to do with the reflections cos they move independently. Like the "object"'s in the car so doesn't move but reflections of light move cos car will change directions slightly.

If knew the speed of car then could get an idea of distance required between reflected light sources.

 

[flarkey]

I don't see those, but I think I see what may be the button to pop the umbrella open on the end -- like you, I am wondering if I am seeing what fits my interpretation of what is there, rather than what is there!

View attachment 72888

It seems to have more of a handle shape, kinda like an auto-gearstick or a 'shift knob'.

This is one from a Chinese SUV...

or perhaps a digital wing mirror,

 

[jarlrmai]

I think the apparent 3d shape is just a double image

 

[Ann K]

I do not understand how that would make them move in the other direction. They'd still move front-to-back.

If it's a reflection in the windshield, then light on the left side of the street would appear to a moving car to go right to left, and lights on the right would appear to go left to right.

 

[JMartJr]

Would the reflections of lights from traffic in the fast lane that is passing the car on one side go one wayon the "UFO," and lights on the other side, in the slower lane being passed, go the other?

That said, they mostly seem to be paired, first going one way on the lower right side of the "UFO," pause, then going the other direction up the other -- to me, that suggests that we are seeing one set of lights being alternately reflected on one side then the other. My ability to envision the shape of an object that would reflect like that is not good -- perhaps something concave?

 

[Mendel]

If it's a reflection in the windshield, then light on the left side of the street would appear to a moving car to go right to left, and lights on the right would appear to go left to right.

I cannot imagine a geometry that allows this with parallel lines in the end result. Any viewing where the sides are parallel would have the lights going front-to-back, i.e. not opposite.

 

[flarkey]

I cannot imagine a geometry that allows this with parallel lines in the end result. Any viewing where the sides are parallel would have the lights going front-to-back, i.e. not opposite.

I don't see the lights going opposite directions. In each pulsation after the large initial reflection the lights move 'up' in the video. They are consistent with a reflection of moving lights (or stationary lights & moving car) I'm that are moving in the same direction every time.

 

[jdog]

I cannot imagine a geometry that allows this with parallel lines in the end result. Any viewing where the sides are parallel would have the lights going front-to-back, i.e. not opposite.

If we assume these are environmental lights being reflected off a shiny object inside the car and we're looking out some window that's catching the reflection...

The green lines show up from one direction just before the green light, so evidentally that's the vehicle's direction of travel. The lights going the other way could then be from vehicles passing this one.

It's almost like we're looking at the reflections from three lanes -- the one the vehicle's in and one lane to either side. The green lights are the only lights that appear above all the "lanes" at the same time, just 3 seconds before we see the green arrow traffic light.

Otherwise we're seeing two yellowish-white lights at a time in the "lane" to the right or left -- two lights like the headlights of other vehicles.

 

[Mendel]

I don't see the lights going opposite directions. In each pulsation after the large initial reflection the lights move 'up' in the video. They are consistent with a reflection of moving lights (or stationary lights & moving car) I'm that are moving in the same direction every time.

for example, in 0:16 after the green bit, there are lights moving down

the area marked yellow is convex (curved, maybe angled?), because that's where reflections emerge in two directions, presumably caused by the same lights.

The green tracks are displaced compared to the yellow tracks, and they have a bit of up and down at the same time.

 

[flarkey]

for example, in 0:16 after the green bit, there are lights moving down
View attachment 72913
the area marked yellow is convex (curved, maybe angled?), because that's where reflections emerge in two directions, presumably caused by the same lights.

The green tracks are displaced compared to the yellow tracks, and they have a bit of up and down at the same time.

I used AI to create this image that might help to understand what I think the road looks like. I'm quite impressed and think this is pretty close to what the road was like.

Prompt: "Create an image of a straight multilane highway disappearing into the distance with equally spaced streetlights alternating on either side of the road and occasional green traffic lights suspended over each lane of the road." (https://deepai.org/machine-learning-model/text2img).

 

[Mendel]

Shunyi is in Beijing.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFqbvLwnnr0


via https://explorebj.com/subway/pedia/station/shunyi/ :

 

[Mendel]

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFqbvLwnnr0

1:38

 

[flarkey]

1:38
View attachment 72921

I saw this too, and noticed the orientation of the arrow (up in the YouTube video, but down in the UFO video). This made me think we could be missing something regarding the orientation of the object. However at 14m41s..... so down arrows are present in Beijing street-signage.

 

[jarlrmai]

It's clearly a reflection here it is in front of the sign

I don't think the object is 3d I think it's 2 overlapping reflections of the same thing

 

[flarkey]

I don't think the object is 3d I think it's 2 overlapping reflections of the same thing

I think you're right about the double reflection. Every bright glint has a matching secondary glint that is just offset a little. It will still be a 3d shape of some kind, but not looking like we might expect.

 

[JMartJr]

I don't see the lights going opposite directions.

There are a couple of moments like this, where the two lines of lights on the left appear to me to be "moving" downward along the left side of the "UFO," and then a similar set of two lines of lights appear to be moving upward on the right. I admit that the downward motion that comes second is less clear in turns of the direction, but it is what I was referring to...

 

[FatPhil]

I think you're right about the double reflection. Every bright glint has a matching secondary glint that is just offset a little. It will still be a 3d shape of some kind, but not looking like we might expect.

View attachment 72926View attachment 72924View attachment 72925

A double reflection, or other duplication of the image, could possibly be undone.

What we're given is the original input signal I(x,y) with a reduced offset copy of it added on: k.I(x+ox, y+oy)
O(x,y) = I(x,y) + k.I(x+ox, y+oy)
We can eyeball ox and oy, and we can experiment to fine tune k and those offsets by merging
T(x,y) = O(x,y) - k.O(x+ox, y+oy)
= I(x,y) + k.I(x+ox, y+oy) - k.(I(x+ox,y+oy) + k.I(x+ox+ox, y+oy+oy))
= I(x,y) - k^2.I(x+2.ox, y+2.oy)
You'd want to fine tune k, ox, and oy such that the original reflection is minimised.
Alas, you've shoved another extra (signal-inverted) copy of the image at offset (2.ox, 2.oy), but that's got the scaling factor -k^2 rather than k, a number smaller than the original problem had. You can fix that by adding k^2 of the original offset by that doubled vector to the T() sum. (Lather rinse repeat ...)

Photoshop has had the tech to do this for well over a decade, but it's described as "anti-shake", or similar. Technically that's way cleverer, but it might not be able to recognise the offset secondary image as being a camera shake (phase one is work out the shake that caused the smooshing of the image).

No, I can't do it myself, I'm just sitting here typing at my internet-modified Selectric doing the maths for you.

 

[flarkey]

So trying what @FatPhil suggested using GIMP and a clone brush (!) I have removed one of the duplicated reflection images and have ended up with this.....

Rotating that to the left and we get this - any ideas what it could be? To me it looks like the end of a roof bar (maybe) .

 

[Ann K]

So trying what @FatPhil suggested using GIMP and a clone brush (!) I have removed one of the duplicated reflection images and have ended up with this.....

In the original video I see glints of light on the RIGHT side as well, which suggest that the end of the thing is symmetrically flared, and not flared only to the left, as you've shown it. It's not as obvious, so perhaps might be a portion of the object that is partly shaded, but it's there.

Pretty much like @JMartJr's pic in post #9, an outline over one of your pictures from post #1 (which, incidentally, shows that the reflections at a given point are NOT just offset duplicates of the other line, so it isn't a double image at all):