Explained: Wingless Tic-Tac UFOs Moving Erratically Behind Trees

[Mick West]

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cThB1zfynHQ


An occasional cause of UFO sighting is video of a plane that's too far away to show up as anything more distinct than a vague tic-tac shape. Planes also often go behind trees, and the cameraperson will often move the camera to keep the "UFO" (plane) in shot, resulting in odd movement. I show how this occurs.

Here's the most dramatic example, straight out of the camera, no post processing.

 

[Mick West]

In the comments, someone pointed out what they described as another image stabilization artifact. I'll put it here for now, but it's a little different


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LLcg9W9loA


Looks like camera shake appears to make a small point of light elongate.

 

[Mick West]

Venus was very bright tonight, and provided this excellent example, seeming to move behind a tree

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB4WFkvjaBg