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Things That Are NOT UFOs

UFO-like helicopter dubbed 'Super Great White Shark' unleashed by China.

A bizarre helicopter that looks like a UFO has been unveiled at a massive airshow in China.

1_flying-saucer-5-copy.jpg


The circular aircraft – dubbed the Super Great White Shark (SGWS) – gained widespread attention for its unique design that looks as if it was inspired by alien sci-fi flicks.

0_flying-saucer-4.jpg


Photos of the prototype craft were taken at the fifth China Helicopter Exposition in Tianjin, on Thursday.

Signs said the helicopter was in the “initial stage of design”.

Images and video only showed the saucer-like prototype sitting on the ground and not in flight.

It is not clear when the SGWS will finally take flight for the first time. ( :rolleyes: )

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/ufo-like-helicopter-dubbed-super-20556409

maximus otter
This reminds me of that thing the Nazis were working on in WW2. The Nazi design was a hybrid of a helicopter and jet turbine. Hard to say if they ever made it actually work though.
 
I could not find any updated info on this event from Jan 13 in Ohio. The video is very good. Though people lost power, there was no confirmation of a transformer explosion? Why not? Low cloud covers would have made the flashes more noticeable due to the reflection. Someone knows the answer, I bet. But the lack of followup with the real cause, instead of promotion as "strange lights" over mystery mongering sites, sows misunderstanding and mistaken assumptions.

https://www.fox19.com/2020/01/14/re...lermont-county-i-thought-it-was-an-explosion/

 
Railway nearby?
 
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I could not find any updated info on this event from Jan 13 in Ohio. The video is very good. Though people lost power, there was no confirmation of a transformer explosion? Why not? Low cloud covers would have made the flashes more noticeable due to the reflection. Someone knows the answer, I bet. But the lack of followup with the real cause, instead of promotion as "strange lights" over mystery mongering sites, sows misunderstanding and mistaken assumptions. ...

The temporary power loss could have been due to something other than an exploding transformer. The flashes repeat with increasing intensity and then pause / stop (with one more flash recorded right at the end). All the flashes seem to originate from the same relative location.

If it had been related to the power outage, my first guess would be a major short circuit (whatever) causing a series of escalating arcs until the grid shut off. If the local power station / hub had automatic controls, the power would have been restored once the monitoring system detected no further disruption(s). The problem with this explanation is that one would think someone near the arcs' source would have seen the flashes up close.

NOTES:

The power company mentioned the outage occurred shortly before 1900 local time. I didn't find any confirmation in the text or video as to when the witnesses observed these flashes, nor how long the flashing actually lasted.

The village of Bethel is only circa 10 miles east of the greater Cincinnati / Covington metro sprawl. The flashes may have been associated with something (e.g., fireworks) occurring in or around the city.. However, there's no clue as to which direction the camera was pointing.
 
I could not find any updated info on this event from Jan 13 in Ohio. The video is very good. Though people lost power, there was no confirmation of a transformer explosion? Why not? Low cloud covers would have made the flashes more noticeable due to the reflection. Someone knows the answer, I bet. But the lack of followup with the real cause, instead of promotion as "strange lights" over mystery mongering sites, sows misunderstanding and mistaken assumptions.

https://www.fox19.com/2020/01/14/re...lermont-county-i-thought-it-was-an-explosion/

Noticing the bright diagonal drops of rain that flash across the field of view makes me consider that it probably is related to some kind of weather phenomenon?
 
Photos of lenticular clouds mistaken for UFOs.

From the YouTube uploader:
Never before seen UFO photos from 1955. These photos were taken by Sax Weir who was an active serviceman who served on the Flying Phantoms Patrol Squadron. These two photographs were taken over Keflavik, Iceland from inside a VP-18. This is the first time these photographs have been shared outside the family. We had the privilege of looking at these first generation scans of the original negatives. Important Correction: In the video we date these photos to be from the 1940s when in fact they were from 1955.

 
Really impressive rare atmospheric feature. I was lucky to catch a skyfull of these clouds after stormy weather in the outback a year ago. I was thinking about stopping to get some pics, but I thought pics just don't reveal the event, so I kept driving just taking it in. Weird feeling. Expecting craft to reveal and descend. None dd.
 
I was followed home on the plane today by a strange glowing orb, making a spherical rainbow in mid air - sometimes there was a dimly-glimpsed black blob in the centre of the sphere, sometimes this was not visible. I've seen this before, but never so clear.

This was a Brocken Spectre, caused by internal reflections from the water droplets in the clouds below the plane. The Brocken spectre is formed around the plane's shadow, which explains the black blob that was sometimes visible.

Here's a photo by the astronomer Jim Kaler showing the Spectre almost exactly as I saw it.
brocken_spectre_by_Jim_Kaler.png

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken_spectre
 
I was followed home on the plane today by a strange glowing orb, making a spherical rainbow in mid air - sometimes there was a dimly-glimpsed black blob in the centre of the sphere, sometimes this was not visible. I've seen this before, but never so clear.

This was a Brocken Spectre, caused by internal reflections from the water droplets in the clouds below the plane. The Brocken spectre is formed around the plane's shadow, which explains the black blob that was sometimes visible.

Here's a photo by the astronomer Jim Kaler showing the Spectre almost exactly as I saw it.View attachment 22854
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken_spectre
Isn't that called a "glory". I have also seen this on a plane trip. Lovely.
 
Strictly speaking ... The glory is the rainbow circle or halo per se, and the Brocken spectre is the shadow of the observer projected into / onto the glory. The spectre effect, being a shadow, requires the observer to be positioned directly between the sun and the projected glory.

Here's a photo illustrating both the glory and the Brocken spectre effects when seen from an aircraft aloft.

IMG_7474_solar_glory.JPG

SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_(optical_phenomenon)
 
That's right- my own sighting started as a Brocken spectre, then turned into a Glory halo as the plane went higher.
 
A rainbow which springs to mind - which it isn't?
A 'Glory Halo' ~ perfect description by the look and completeness of it! But, I wonder if - according to the above photograph/s, that it actually depicts 'Glory Halos? Presumably, the higher up the viewer of such a spectacle is, the more rings - or 'Halos' would appear, and the larger the shadow of the plane in the centre?
The most rainbows I've ever seen all at one time, was looking from the head of Loch Shin in Scotland, whereby I counted seven arched rainbows at once. Quite a site.
 
As far as I could see, the Glory halo remained about the same size throughout.
It appears that the formation of a Glory is not completely understood; classical optics can't explain it, as it requires a reflection inside the water droplet that can't happen in a simple model. The light wave needs to travel for a short distance inside the droplet as a surface wave in order to become visible. Here's Les Cowley's explanation.
https://www.atoptics.co.uk/droplets/glofeat.htm
 
Ever had a really good look at a rainbow?
Not all is what it appears to be, as a single rainbow only shows the colour spectrum at it's outer edge... "what is it that creates it's edges though?" I think pretty obviously - it's a lack of density of the moisture?

Then again, what is it that seems to make a 'double' rainbow which appears to be the exact same thing as the fist... until you look at the colours of in the second rainbow- they have somehow strangely been revered!

I don't know the scientific answer to explain this(if there is one?) but my own personal guess would be that a rainbow {although appearing to be
seen as a "bow") only shows itself at it's outer edge.
My theory is that a rainbow proper is only showing half of it's sphere when viewed at near ground level.

As the image (shadow) of the plane has been viewed as showing up as it passes through the Glory Halo, I would imagine that it could be that a spherical view of moisture is what might be actually viewed from above, with the colours at the extreme edge - therefore, a rainbow might well be a sphere - within a sphere - within a sphere, and so-on, giving it the "appearance" of being a spherical rainbow because of the density of the moisture dense sphere at it's centre.

This is only my bit of thinking of what might lay behind the reasons for how rainbows are actually formed, and the reason for colour reversal of subsequent reflected "bows." Something like the images that were shown in previous articles within the Forum, where a person's shadow is seen standing inside a rainbow on top of a mountain etc. Seems to suggest that the basic nature of the beast describes the exact same function?
 
I've seen colored moon halos often enough to hazard a guess. The multi-color effect is based on light refraction, IE rainbows are an illusion and not a physical object. But also, the angle at which you view the refracted light changes how it looks since the refraction can and will vary based on viewing angle. Moon halos are often fully round because the light is being refracted through atmospheric haze, and at the center is the moon. *does quick web search* Here's a some nice pics: http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/08/rare-rainbows-in-the-dark-24-pics/
Pic #5 is interesting since the reflection in the lake lets the viewer see the same rainbow from two slightly different angles.
#14 is a case of haze above a breaking wave creating a refraction effect.
15, 16, 21, 23 may be a similar phenomena. Each is a roundish multi-colored effect centered on the moon. Atmospheric haze causes the light to get refracted and creates the visual effects. 15 and 16 have particularly chaotic effects due to the severity of the variations in the haze layer. But the principle is the same.

The explanation for why the rainbow effect isn't a straight one-way color progression is simple. It can't be. It's not a single refractor, but millions or billions of tiny refractors. You see whatever bits of light get refracted to your eyes.
 
My theory is that a rainbow proper is only showing half of it's sphere when viewed at near ground level.
This is correct. Strictly speaking, it is a circle, rather than a sphere. It's difficult to see the whole thing, but this photo from a mountain top shows quite a large fraction of the circle.
https://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/bowim1.htm
 
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I've seen colored moon halos often enough to hazard a guess. The multi-color effect is based on light refraction, IE rainbows are an illusion and not a physical object. But also, the angle at which you view the refracted light changes how it looks since the refraction can and will vary based on viewing angle. Moon halos are often fully round because the light is being refracted through atmospheric haze, and at the center is the moon. *does quick web search* Here's a some nice pics: http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/08/rare-rainbows-in-the-dark-24-pics/
Pic #5 is interesting since the reflection in the lake lets the viewer see the same rainbow from two slightly different angles.
#14 is a case of haze above a breaking wave creating a refraction effect.
15, 16, 21, 23 may be a similar phenomena. Each is a roundish multi-colored effect centered on the moon. Atmospheric haze causes the light to get refracted and creates the visual effects. 15 and 16 have particularly chaotic effects due to the severity of the variations in the haze layer. But the principle is the same.

The explanation for why the rainbow effect isn't a straight one-way color progression is simple. It can't be. It's not a single refractor, but millions or billions of tiny refractors. You see whatever bits of light get refracted to your eyes.
Your comments brought back a memory... finished working for the day, walking back home - on reaching my front door fumbling for the door key wallet, and I happened to look up at the Moon which was shining brightly in a winter time night sky without clouds.
As I focused upon the Moon, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, as the perimeter of the Moon was backlit with a red/pink ring of light, making me wonder if something had plunged into the dark side of the Moon?
Got on to the local radio station and retold what I'd seen some moments before - but of course it took a while until it actually got mentioned, and one person who said he had been looking at the Moon through a telescope didn't see anything unusual, so that kind of made me think it might well just have been my eyes playing tricks - until I thought about it some time afterwards, and realised that anyone looking into a telescope at the Moon would not see around the Moon if they were looking at the surface of the Moon. So the jury is still out on that one as I never heard anything more about it.
 
This is correct. Strictly speaking, it is a circle, rather than a sphere. It's difficult to see the whole thing, but this photo from a mountain top shows quite a large fraction of the circle.
https://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/bowim1.htm
Does make me wonder though "eburacum," why (if an apparent rainbow is not a sphere - but a circle) it is that the centre ground within a rainbow sometimes shows itself up as being far more vivid (variable) in colouration than it's outer surroundings beyond the rainbows circle?
It does suggest that the rainbow might well be spherical, and that the brighter centre is a continuation of the sphere of the spectral ball of light which makes it show up in certain favourable circumstances to be a continuation from the hue of the outer rainbows visible bow?
 
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Your comments brought back a memory... finished working for the day, walking back home - on reaching my front door fumbling for the door key wallet, and I happened to look up at the Moon which was shining brightly in a winter time night sky without clouds.
As I focused upon the Moon, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, as the perimeter of the Moon was backlit with a red/pink ring of light, making me wonder if something had plunged into the dark side of the Moon?
Got on to the local radio station and retold what I'd seen some moments before - but of course it took a while until it actually got mentioned, and one person who said he had been looking at the Moon through a telescope didn't see anything unusual, so that kind of made me think it might well just have been my eyes playing tricks - until I thought about it some time afterwards, and realised that anyone looking into a telescope at the Moon would not see around the Moon if they were looking at the surface of the Moon. So the jury is still out on that one as I never heard anything more about it.
Well, the position of the viewer makes a big difference. It sounds like there were thin wispy clouds in the sky but not many and only someone looking through them would see it.
 
Your comments brought back a memory... finished working for the day, walking back home - on reaching my front door fumbling for the door key wallet, and I happened to look up at the Moon which was shining brightly in a winter time night sky without clouds.
As I focused upon the Moon, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, as the perimeter of the Moon was backlit with a red/pink ring of light, making me wonder if something had plunged into the dark side of the Moon?
Got on to the local radio station and retold what I'd seen some moments before - but of course it took a while until it actually got mentioned, and one person who said he had been looking at the Moon through a telescope didn't see anything unusual, so that kind of made me think it might well just have been my eyes playing tricks - until I thought about it some time afterwards, and realised that anyone looking into a telescope at the Moon would not see around the Moon if they were looking at the surface of the Moon. So the jury is still out on that one as I never heard anything more about it.
Sounds like an unusually red corona; the colours displayed by a lunar corona are dependent on droplet size, and the red ring is often innermost, as in this image from Les Cowley's site (once again)
https://www.atoptics.co.uk/droplets/corim12.htm
corona.png
 
Well, the position of the viewer makes a big difference. It sounds like there were thin wispy clouds in the sky but not many and only someone looking through them would see it.
From memory (as it was a while ago now), the ring was only visible around the Moon itself - not cloud form at all as it was a totally clear evening when I got home. I do remember that the "ring" that was visible to me was universal in it's width and colour, sort of a flushed red to pink - not diffused, like it would be if diffused it would be through wispy cloud forms. It really did appear to be emanating from the back of the Moon - that's what made me look at it in more detail... wondering what the heck was going on. It didn't last long however, as when I went out to have another look at it when I'd put my work stuff in the house, it had gone. The colours in the above photograph aren't a mile away, but it didn't appear like that. What I saw was clear and sharp including the ring and it's colours in a darkened sky.
 
From memory (as it was a while ago now), the ring was only visible around the Moon itself - not cloud form at all as it was a totally clear evening when I got home. I do remember that the "ring" that was visible to me was universal in it's width and colour, sort of a flushed red to pink - not diffused, like it would be if diffused it would be through wispy cloud forms. It really did appear to be emanating from the back of the Moon - that's what made me look at it in more detail... wondering what the heck was going on. It didn't last long however, as when I went out to have another look at it when I'd put my work stuff in the house, it had gone. The colours in the above photograph aren't a mile away, but it didn't appear like that. What I saw was clear and sharp including the ring and it's colours in a darkened sky.

It doesn't require a visible cloud ...

You'd get the same halo / color effects with a much crisper presentation if the refraction were occurring through a uniform high altitude layer of ice crystals. This is the most common setting for the moon halos I've seen.

The apparent gap between the halo ring and moon, as well as the apparent halo coloring, are determined by the positioning of the light source (moon) and refracting layer(s) relative to the observer (you).
 
It doesn't require a visible cloud ...

You'd get the same halo / color effects with a much crisper presentation if the refraction were occurring through a uniform high altitude layer of ice crystals. This is the most common setting for the moon halos I've seen.

The apparent gap between the halo ring and moon, as well as the apparent halo coloring, are determined by the positioning of the light source (moon) and refracting layer(s) relative to the observer (you).
Understand what you're saying EnolaGaia: I've seen plenty of Moon Halo's, but it wasn't like that. I wish to point out that there was no gap between the Moon and Halo. The Halo emanated from behind the Moon itself which was 'normal.'
 
Understand what you're saying EnolaGaia: I've seen plenty of Moon Halo's, but it wasn't like that. I wish to point out that there was no gap between the Moon and Halo. The Halo emanated from behind the Moon itself which was 'normal.'
Altitude of the particles causing the halo will change the way the halo is focused, and thus how it looks. In your case it might have been something other than an actual cloud that created enough haze to cause a corona.
 
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Note that Sid's observation was probably a lunar corona, rather than a halo. The corona is close to the lunar orb, and quite compact, while a halo is always separated from the moon by 22º
Lunar Halo
Lunar Corona
Coronae are formed by diffraction (non-classical or quantum effects) while halos are caused by refraction and reflection (classical optics).
 
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Note that Sid's observation was probably a lunar corona, rather than a halo. The corona is close to the lunar orb, and quite compact, while a halo is always separated from the moon by 22º
Lunar Halo
Lunar Corona
Coronae are formed by diffraction (non-classical or quantum effects) while halos are caused by refraction and reflection (classical optics).
Thanks 'eburacum:' That's about as close to what I witnessed you've described... I never heard of a Lunar Corona before... "nice!"
The 'corona' I saw was very tight and compact to the Moon's image (circumference edges), so your description seems to pin this one down nicely! Thank you.

*An Impression of what I remember seeing:

Moon 1.png
 
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The corona, as a phenomenon, seems to vary quite a lot, mostly due to the size and variation of the water droplets that cause the effect.
 
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