Twitter "Crazy UAP" Atlantic City - [Long Exposure and Camera Motion on Tracking Head]

[jarlrmai]

This account has been active on Twitter in the UFO space and recently seemed to have an offer to provide image hardware and analysis to Skywatcher and got some coverage on Reddit because of it

They posted this today


Source: https://x.com/BillyKryzak/status/1885087523283632320

Crazy UAP out over the Ocean just offshore of Atlantic City. I was setting up for some astrophotography and saw something moving out of the corner of my eye.. i slewed my lens over to it and took a 15 second exposure.
What i saw with my eye was a bright object that was stationary with a smaller orb randomly circling it.

You can see from the stars in the background that this was not a camera movement effect. the light trail of the smaller orb is due to the shutter being open for 30 seconds.

Astrometry reveals that this is Capella

https://nova.astrometry.net/user_images/11907372#annotated

So it is camera movement and this person knows it, the stars in the background are much dimmer and are exposed during a still part of the exposure and the squiggle comes from later or earlier camera movement where only Capella is bright enough to register.

 

[flarkey]

Metadata for the photo.


Source: https://x.com/BillyKryzak/status/1885094033854521504?t=rVmOvBEl14Q79Ar_YMl0lg&s=19

Capella would have been visible towards the east at the time:

https://www.heavens-above.com/skychart2.aspx?lat=39.3643&lng=-74.4229&loc=Atlantic+City&alt=0&tz=EST

 

[flarkey]

I did an independent check to make sure that @jarlrmai 's star map matches with what is seen in the image, and it does.

 

[ThomasH]

That was my first thought, but he seemed really serious and not a part of the cult, so I really found it strange and couldn't explain.
So yet another one has turned to the dark site

 

[Mick West]

I did an independent check to make sure that @jarlrmai 's star map matches with what is seen in the image, and it does.

Indeed. It's not something anyone is going to find manually, as it's so zoomed in. Some of the stars are not in Stellarium, but it's still a 100% match.

 

[Ann K]

Oh darn, that's such a sensible explanation from @jarlrmai. I'm disappointed that it's not just a moth buzzing around a streetlight.

 

[Mick West]

Given the periodic nature of the camera motion, it's probably a short knock making it vibrate for about a second.

 

[Mick West]

The "orbiting" motion is interesting. I was experimenting a little with 30 second exposure, point source (flashlight in a box with a pinhole) and knocking the tripod.

I wasn't able to get anything really like this (although there's a partial "orbit" above.

I suspect that the orbiting nature is a function of the mount used.

It's a tracking head, and since the exposure was 30 seconds long and we see stars with no trails (at 1200mm focal length), then it would have been active. I wonder if the orbiting motion is the head trying to center the image after the tripod was moved a bit.

 

[Mick West]

Here's another example

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/whlgr0/what_is_this_thing_i_suspect_its_a_meteor_but_the/

It's a less involved trail, but notable in that we only see the trail on three other stars (which the Redditor seems to have missed).

 

[Mick West]

And another
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4108826

In this case, you can only see one trail in social media quality, but zoom in and push the levels, and there are other trails proving it's camera motion. Again, the photographer did not realize the camera moved.

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

Here's an 8 second exposure I just took of Rigel, where I bumped the tripod a couple times around 6 seconds into the exposure. I was hoping to do it with something brighter but I'm heading out soon and from my window Sirius is unfortunately behind a some tree branches for me right now and the branches mess up the exposure. But just proving that this does happen with stars significantly brighter than the stars around them in frame.

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

Actually Sirius just left the tree branches. 10 second exposure. Shook the tripod gently for the first ~2 seconds. Spectacular display.

edit: I'll also add that the only reason I didn't do a 30 second exposure is that every so often a truck drives by on the road outside and that is enough to introduce enough shake through the hardwood floorboards that it doesn't come out good. Also if I shift my weight on the floor at all.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

We had a similar case not even a year ago.

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/streaks-of-light-in-night-photography.13528/#post-318102

 

[ufonut]

The "orbiting" motion is interesting. I was experimenting a little with 30 second exposure, point source (flashlight in a box with a pinhole) and knocking the tripod.

I wasn't able to get anything really like this (although there's a partial "orbit" above.

I suspect that the orbiting nature is a function of the mount used.

It's a tracking head, and since the exposure was 30 seconds long and we see stars with no trails (at 1200mm focal length), then it would have been active. I wonder if the orbiting motion is the head trying to center the image after the tripod was moved a bit.

Mick, another factor in getting the orbit (harmonic vibration) is probably the lens. He's using a Sony 600mm with 2x teleconverter, a setup that looks like this. It acts like a big pendulum.