Reddit - Strange glowing orb. No sound, emitting a bright glow. NOT a spotlight. NOT a helicopter.
- Thread starter jarlrmai
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FatPhil
Senior Member.
@Ann K's directions were perfectly adequate, and I agree with her conclusions, even from the rendering of the video that I saw. And the reason I'm not posting a screenshot of that is because for some unknown the reason (well, probably a shitty codec) the video played at completely the wrong aspect ratio and resolution, so half the window was repeated lines, and the other half of the window was a stretched version of the actual video. The light below - where in frame I cannot tell you as the video's mangled - moved in sync with the light above - ditto. That's what a reflection would do. Sorry I couldn't be of more help, but you might have more luck just viewing it yourself.
purpleivan
Senior Member.
The reflection can be seem from 0:39 to 0:50 in the first video in the OP. It moves from right to left, across the roof of the car, then back to the right again.
It's in the red box in the image below.
Although I don't think the light in this video is add with CG, the reflection in the roof of the car isn't really evidence of it not being that. Whenever I've manipulated a photo (or game screenshot) to add something to an image, reflections, even faint ones, are something that were high on my list of things to add/adjust, as they help improved the believability of the final result, even the subtle ones. As for the work involved, I'd say it wouldn't be a lot more to add the reflection.
It's in the red box in the image below.
Although I don't think the light in this video is add with CG, the reflection in the roof of the car isn't really evidence of it not being that. Whenever I've manipulated a photo (or game screenshot) to add something to an image, reflections, even faint ones, are something that were high on my list of things to add/adjust, as they help improved the believability of the final result, even the subtle ones. As for the work involved, I'd say it wouldn't be a lot more to add the reflection.
boguesuser
Active Member
I'd like to mention that not every aircraft will show up via the ADSB app I use. I know of one pilot who's helicopter never shows up. It passes inspection but every time we try to find it through flighttracker24, past or present, we can't.
They've flown over the states largest airport and still don't show up on those trackers.
I'm sure they aren't the only pilot who's aircraft doesn't show up.
Scaramanga
Senior Member
As Ann K pointed out, at about 40 seconds. Its the car next to a building. I didn't notice it until the third or fourth playing of the clip. Just a little detail that to my mind confirms its a genuine video....though with AI these days you can never be 100% certain.
Scaramanga
Senior Member
True....but its not automatically obvious that the object would be reflected in the car roof, especially given how low the angle is and how small an area of the image it is. Maybe I'm just un-observant...but I don't think I have ever seen Venus, Jupiter, a plane, etc reflected off a car roof.....though I am sure it happens.
purpleivan
Senior Member.
When I've altered images to add new content, I've almost gone out of my way to find places for reflections, even if they wouldn't pass muster if someone took a close look at them and I'm fairly sure I'd not be the only artist to do that, as it can be a quick way of adding believability, to a bit of fakery in an image. The same holds true for video.
I'm pretty sure (as I said previously) that this hasn't been CG'd, as other more likely theories have been discussed in this thread, I was just saying that a an image or video including a reflection of something unusual, doesn't mean that it's not been CG'd.
As for reflections of Venus, Jupiter and aircraft lights then I wouldn't expect to be able to reliably see reflections of these in an environment, as they are very faint and reflections lose visual integrity when reflected off all but the cleanest surfaces. Things like dust, water, layered paints etc. on surfaces of objects like cars, disrupt reflections of faint objects such as these, to an extent that it makes them less apparent. A visually much brighter light, e.g. from a cabling inspection drone, as has been suggested in this thread, has a much greater brightness and size in the field of view, therefore reflections of it would be more likely to be visible.
JMartJr
Senior Member.
My expectation would be different, they CAN be quite bright, I'd expect to be able to see some sort of reflection in any surface "shiny" enough to reflect, say, a plane's landing lights at some distance.
It is cloudy here at the moment, next time it is clear I might try an experiment there. Somebody with clear skies tonight, feel free to jump the queue!
Not totally analogous (the surface of the sea is a different surface, not a car roof) but possibly illustrative of something or other:
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/8vd65e/i_caught_venus_reflection_on_the_pacific_ocean/
(Side note -- the number of fake AI images that floated up on a search for "Venus reflected in ocean" startled me. Reminder that we may be the last generation to be have been able to offer a picture as decent evidence of anything...)
purpleivan
Senior Member.
The point I was making was that in comparison to the light source in the video in the OP, a planet in the sky will be fair fainter and smaller, so much less likely to be seen as a reflection, in particular, to a degree it is noticeable. Obviously there are circumstances in which reflections of stars will be seen, but the vast majority of the time they won't. especially in urban environments (like in the video), where they are unlikely to be seen near the horizon (as in the photo of Venus) and compete with other, often much brighter, light sources.
Additionally, it's worth noting that according to the Reddit post, that photo is a 15 second exposure, taken with a $2500 camera on a tripod, so not the kind of equipment most people would take photos with, which in most cases now would be a phone. Also, although the surface the reflection is seen is little rough, it's highly reflective and at the distance seen, pretty flat and the low angle producing a Fresnel effect. So, I would suggest, a highly atypical situation, compared with most people's experience of seeing or photographing the night sky.
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