Ukraine UFO on Thermal Camera Footage

[john.phil]

I dont understand what kind of lens they could be using to have their altitude read as 104 meters

~104m is the altitude in respect to the take off point. The altitude in respect to mean sea level was ~155m.

 

[deirdre]

The altitude in respect to mean sea level was ~155m.

ah. thanks!. i still cant get the borders to line up at that low a height. The lens must be "distorting" the view somehow...

 

[john.phil]

The lens must be "distorting" the view somehow...

This is footage taken from a mobile phone recording close to the screen at an angle, thus some adjustments are expected.

i dont know how much zoom was being employed at start of video

In the first frames, the zoom scale is visible. By measuring the relative position of the zoom gauge and comparing to the same drone model display, it was wide open at 1.0x.

 

[flarkey]

The other thing that could cause a reflection are these two large solar farms. Not sure how that lines up with the drone imagery though.

 

[Matt33]

Exactly what I was writing right now:
Anybody noticed the big solar farm in the near vicinity of the greenhouses? The panels might be warm and from the drone's perspective look like a flat blop.

 

[flarkey]

Exactly what I was writing right now:
Anybody noticed the big solar farm in the near vicinity of the greenhouses? The panels might be warm and from the drone's perspective look like a flat blop.

Not necessarily warm - but highly reflective.

 

[Matt33]

The panels are tilted away from the drone, probably about 40° facing South. The drone camera doesn't really see the reflective side.

 

[flarkey]

The panels are tilted away from the drone, probably about 40° facing South. The drone camera doesn't really see the reflective side.

I think you're right here. They appear to be oriented to the south, which is what you'd expect for solar panels in the northern hemisphere.

However, the bigger issue is that the solar farm is on a bearing of about 160° compared to the 127° that the UFO on in the drone video. I made a mistake when I saw the greenhouses. (@Matt33 - i've just edited this)

 

[deirdre]

The other thing that could cause a reflection are these two large solar farms. Not sure how that lines up with the drone imagery though.

the display doesnt line up with the drone imagery even if i transform a tad to compensate from the phone angle. (it helps) i think their display HUD is broken.

 

[deirdre]

However, the bigger issue is that the solar farm is on a bearing of about 160° compared to the 127° that the UFO on in the drone video.

compromise and pick the greenhouses in the middle

 

[flarkey]

compromise and pick the greenhouses in the middle

Or his hill that would stick its head above a low fog....

 

[john.phil]

the display doesnt line up with the drone imagery even if i transform a tad to compensate from the phone angle. (it helps) i think their display HUD is broken.

Please, try the position towards the right, where it was originally proposed, because at the position on the left, there is a road missing from the footage (yellow arrow), so it's probably not the right spot:

Try to adjust against the satellite photo from 2019, as it more clearly shows the hedge along the road, just like in the footage.

 

[deirdre]

Please, try the position towards the right, where it was originally proposed, because at the position on the left, there is a road missing from the footage (yellow arrow), so it's probably not the right spot:

with my placement literally everything else matches up -minus the iphone slight distort (the river land bump, the field edge, the left corner with the long building etc. if i go right i lose all those line ups.

you can place it whereever you want but to my eye my placement works better for more details.

 

[flarkey]

This is the latest imagery I could find online for the area, taken 28 Feb 2024.

https://apps.sentinel-hub.com/eo-br...28,1]&blueRange=[0.28,1]&demSource3D="MAPZEN"

 

[NightCat1337]

I'm kicking myself for not having a camera with a real-ish zoom ready all the time.

Last night as the "big storm" fizzled around here, I looked out and saw the Ukrainian UFO in the distance. There was lots of clouds and mist, but in the middle of it was a long thin rectangular UFO, almost exactly like the one in the video, just inverted. Not being a black hot thermal image, the UFO was very bright compared to the surroundings. After watching for a few minutes, I tried to video it with my phone, but it was just too far away. I went for a camera with a zoom, but as it rarely gets used anymore the battery was dead.

My plan was to shoot a photo or video and then make it B&W and invert it. I really think it would have looked pretty close for being 1/2 way around the world.

Trust me bro, I know what I saw!

This morning, I did some more looking and I'm pretty sure what I saw was the setting sun hitting a building of some sort just right to make it shine/reflect through the mist and clouds. These buildings appear to be around 35 miles away:

View attachment 66475

With the main suspect being the Johns Manville insulation factory that kinda sits by itself in a sea of ag land:

View attachment 66476

There is also a variety of ag buildings in the area.

No luck tonight with the same effect, but I've now got some morning photos of the area with a proper camera. Hopefully the scene will repeat, though it was very possible that like many UFO photos, it was the result of the clouds, sun, view and other things being just right for just a few minutes.

@Mick West possible solution here?

 

[john.phil]

possible solution here?

The Ukrainian operator claims the footage was taken at 9pm a couple of weeks ago, which excludes a reflection from the Sun. Also, the object would appear quite hot under IR if the Sun was reflecting from it.

 

[Mendel]

What usually helps in these situations (but we rarely get) is a comparison picture showing the same view in normal, daytime conditions.

 

[flarkey]

The Ukrainian operator claims the footage was taken at 9pm a week ago, which excludes a reflection from the Sun. Also, the object would appear quite hot under IR if the Sun was reflecting from it.

source?

 

[john.phil]

source?

Post #9:

searching... a new article came up 5 minutes ago
Article: 'I use this [infrared, heat vision] filter very often,' the unit drone operator said, 'and just got experience so I can differentiate how bright an object should be according to what temperature.'

Based on that experience, Vadym stated that the UFO was 'was very hot. I'm guessing 20 to 30 degrees [Celsius] hotter than other objects.'

Vadym estimated that the roughly 1,300 ft (400 meters) long UFO was also about 328 feet (100 meters) tall.

It caught on the camera of a commercial DJI brand thermal-imaging drone on February 23, 2024.

The possible craft, spotted around 9:02pm local time, appeared to be approximately 37 to 40 miles away from the soldiers, he said, towards Donetsk Oblast, the southeastern Ukrainian province that has been most dominated by Russia's forces. Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13142223/ukrainian-soldier-ufo-donetsk-sighting.html

 

[Bonky]

If nothing else, I'm enjoying the discussion on Reddit that the Daily Mail is tabloid trash -- except for their (credulous) UFO coverage, which for some reason is rock-solid.

I will have to give credit to the New York Post's Basement Office dude. After being caught up in the hype like a typical tabloid, he calmed a bit and decided to dig into the backstory.

A backstory that we all knew but uh, hey, good for him. The Men Who Stared at Dinobeavers.

 

[NorCal Dave]

@Mick West possible solution here?

Just a big maybe. I was just trying to relate an experience that I, unfortunately, could not capture on camera. Under just right circumstances, a glowing long thin rectangle, very similar to the UFO in OP appeared for 1-2 minutes in the distance. There was heavy cloud cover up above and what seemed to be thin clouds or even rain between me and the object.

I don't know about the guy that took the video, in my case I pretty used to what I can normally see when looking west. This day, most of that was obscured due to weather. It was just grey with high clouds. Then a bright long thin rectangle appeared. Besides the insulation factory I mentioned, I also located a large dairy farm with long low metal roofed barns. In my case, it seems what I was seeing was a building of some sort that the setting sun was hitting just right to make it stand out from the fog/rain/clouds and appear a bit otherworldly.

Had I managed some photos of this, at best, it would have shown that distant buildings can, under the right circumstances appear similar to what is in the video. But it would not have been in thermal imaging. My feeling for now, is that it's something like that in the video. A distant building or structure of some sort that is a bit hotter than the surrounding fog/clouds.

And the better camera is charged and ready now

 

[Eburacum]

I'm unsure how the anonymous drone operator arrived at the conclusion that is object was 40 miles away. It may be much closer and smaller. But if it is on the ground it must be a fairly large object; several hundred metres long, perhaps.

However it is not as 'tall' as the drone operator suggested, since it is long and thin; if it were 400 metres long, it would only be fifty or sixty metres high.