plastic wiganer
Ephemeral Spectre
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This means nothing without proof... wheres the photo to back it up? lol
The Big Orb Thread
- Thread starter Anonymous
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This means nothing without proof... wheres the photo to back it up? lol
Ogdred Weary
ㅤㅤㅤ
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plastic wiganer
Ephemeral Spectre
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oh yeah, so you have. nice pair by the way 
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So orbs are a camera artefact?
VANITAS Oil on Canvas by Edward Collier (1642 – 1708)
VANITAS Oil on Canvas by Edward Collier (1642 – 1708)
Analogue Boy
Bar 6
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If you do a search for Vanitas, you find examples of symbolic art on the theme of the brevity of life. Those orbs are bubbles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanitas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanitas
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Err yes I know and orbs aren't really ghosts either!
Analogue Boy
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I know. But it has caused me to think of the Pear’s soap painting in a new, more morbid light.
Quite a number of year ago, I was walking along a track deep in the local countryside. Alongside the track ran a small steam on the left side of the path, and fairly thick woodland on the right hand side of the track.
I had to pass through an old field gate which crossed over stream and path, where I paused to take a photograph as it made a very pleasing scene.
When I got home I had a look through the pics I had taken ~ as I drank my cup of coffee.
I got to the photo of the gate-stream-path-wood, and was a bit surprised when I spotted a fairly large fuzzy 'orb' lit up against the darker background of the woodland.
On maximising the photo after downloading it onto my computer, it showed up as something resembling a flake of snow (pattern-wise), this was on quite a warm day, so no chance of it being a flake of snow.
Unfortunately, I lost a lot of photographs when my previous computer bit-the-bullet, so no chance of retrieving the images as I didn't have the back-up systems (built-in, or separate) back then.
I had to pass through an old field gate which crossed over stream and path, where I paused to take a photograph as it made a very pleasing scene.
When I got home I had a look through the pics I had taken ~ as I drank my cup of coffee.
I got to the photo of the gate-stream-path-wood, and was a bit surprised when I spotted a fairly large fuzzy 'orb' lit up against the darker background of the woodland.
On maximising the photo after downloading it onto my computer, it showed up as something resembling a flake of snow (pattern-wise), this was on quite a warm day, so no chance of it being a flake of snow.
Unfortunately, I lost a lot of photographs when my previous computer bit-the-bullet, so no chance of retrieving the images as I didn't have the back-up systems (built-in, or separate) back then.
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gattino
Justified & Ancient
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So as reported on the thread "ghosts and ghost hunting" i went to a vigil at Newsham Park abandoned hospital on Halloween night. No ghosts showed up. Looking back at my pics there is a distracting little light anomaly which i don't suggest is supernatural, but open to general speculation.
During a "go where you like on your own" part of the night a friend and I went wandering. In a particular dark, somewhat cavernous and therefore all the more creepy random room I snapped a picture. It should be said we each had a torch which was put on and off at appropriate times and sometimes directed in combination with taking a photo. The blob that caught my attention is in a photo that appears not to have had a torch on as everything else is pitch black.
I looked at the next picture where the torch is presumably on, as there is more illumination. There's a bright white spot in the same location and another on the wall. Round rather than elongated its reasonable to assume the shape in the first pic is down to camera movement. It's also logical to assume light is either emitting from or bouncing off fixed points in the structure/furniture rather than floating in the air. so perhaps his torch was on behind me and was being reflected (though in that case why is the first pic pitch black?)
I sent the pics to the person i was with and he returned a photo he'd taken in the same room, presumably not at the precise same moment or position, which is much more illuminated and clear. The two points of light are in the exact same positions (again suggesting they are fixed in space) and there is now third either on the floor or in the air to the left of the picture. You can also see the source/location of the initial light is in fact the corner of a chair. But its a dark plastic chair, so an improbable culprit for a mirrored surface.
The only other observations i can throw in are that there are clearly the remains of lighting fixtures in the ceiling off which one might imagine a shone light bouncing (?) but there was no actual internal lighting on in the room. Any holes in the walls or ceiling would be letting in a black cloudy 2am sky rather than a beam of moonlight.
Again no claim of ghosts, but the fact they appear in 3 photos of 2 people in various degrees of ambient illumination makes it a curiosity.
During a "go where you like on your own" part of the night a friend and I went wandering. In a particular dark, somewhat cavernous and therefore all the more creepy random room I snapped a picture. It should be said we each had a torch which was put on and off at appropriate times and sometimes directed in combination with taking a photo. The blob that caught my attention is in a photo that appears not to have had a torch on as everything else is pitch black.
I looked at the next picture where the torch is presumably on, as there is more illumination. There's a bright white spot in the same location and another on the wall. Round rather than elongated its reasonable to assume the shape in the first pic is down to camera movement. It's also logical to assume light is either emitting from or bouncing off fixed points in the structure/furniture rather than floating in the air. so perhaps his torch was on behind me and was being reflected (though in that case why is the first pic pitch black?)
I sent the pics to the person i was with and he returned a photo he'd taken in the same room, presumably not at the precise same moment or position, which is much more illuminated and clear. The two points of light are in the exact same positions (again suggesting they are fixed in space) and there is now third either on the floor or in the air to the left of the picture. You can also see the source/location of the initial light is in fact the corner of a chair. But its a dark plastic chair, so an improbable culprit for a mirrored surface.
The only other observations i can throw in are that there are clearly the remains of lighting fixtures in the ceiling off which one might imagine a shone light bouncing (?) but there was no actual internal lighting on in the room. Any holes in the walls or ceiling would be letting in a black cloudy 2am sky rather than a beam of moonlight.
Again no claim of ghosts, but the fact they appear in 3 photos of 2 people in various degrees of ambient illumination makes it a curiosity.
Salmonellus
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Like the rest of you, I have zero confidence in orbs as evidence of the paranormal - which makes it all the more amusing that I recently took some excellent 'orb' photos under exactly the circumstances you'd expect to produce orbs, if there was something mystical involved.
And it did allow me to make one interesting observation, which might even be original.
The context: the better half and I recently went on a tour of Newgrange and Knowth in Ireland. As most of you would know, Knowth is an ancient chambered tomb, and the central tumulus is surrounded by a cluster of smaller tumuli. As it was a very sunny day it was impossible to see into the interiors of the smaller tombs, so I took some photos through the gratings. Well, mystical burial chambers thousands of years old, there ought to be something worth seeing...
The first photo shows a stack of orbs pretty clearly. The second and third photos were taken only a second or so apart - I thought I'd jiggled the camera on the first picture and so took another. But as you can see, whatever causes orbs can move and change very quickly. I think that's an observation worth making.
And it did allow me to make one interesting observation, which might even be original.
The context: the better half and I recently went on a tour of Newgrange and Knowth in Ireland. As most of you would know, Knowth is an ancient chambered tomb, and the central tumulus is surrounded by a cluster of smaller tumuli. As it was a very sunny day it was impossible to see into the interiors of the smaller tombs, so I took some photos through the gratings. Well, mystical burial chambers thousands of years old, there ought to be something worth seeing...
The first photo shows a stack of orbs pretty clearly. The second and third photos were taken only a second or so apart - I thought I'd jiggled the camera on the first picture and so took another. But as you can see, whatever causes orbs can move and change very quickly. I think that's an observation worth making.
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
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Was it cold in there? I have this idea that some orbs are caused by transient fluctuations in temperature, which may briefly cause condensation of tiny water droplets onto the camera lens. They may move about or evaporate very quickly.
Others may be caused by pieces of floating dust or even insects, reflecting an aura of light from a lighting source.
Others may be caused by pieces of floating dust or even insects, reflecting an aura of light from a lighting source.
Salmonellus
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On the contrary, it was a blazing hot day during the recent heatwave, with the sun so bright that it was uncomfortable to stand outside. The contrast between the light outside and the darkness of the chambers made it impossible to see inside with the naked eye. I was kneeling at the metal grid by the entrance, holding the camera between the bars, and it didn't feel particularly cool inside.
Dust or insects would be the most likely culprits, I reckon, although you'd expect insects to look more like objects than orbs
"Fascinating Photographs!"
I thought it might be interesting to have a closer look, in particular at the Orb top right (encircled) in
As you can see (below) it has an internal structure which is not circular, and which is not water-droplet like, and notably has a hexagonal form within all its layers?
*Notice that it also has a segmented structure, and that it is not one single moisture droplet-type anomaly, but in fact contains (in its appearance) several layers, also, that it picks up the green influence from the green algae growth from the stones and walls within the New Grange chamber.
*Enlargement of Orb:
I thought it might be interesting to have a closer look, in particular at the Orb top right (encircled) in
Salmonellus' photograph.
As you can see (below) it has an internal structure which is not circular, and which is not water-droplet like, and notably has a hexagonal form within all its layers?
*Notice that it also has a segmented structure, and that it is not one single moisture droplet-type anomaly, but in fact contains (in its appearance) several layers, also, that it picks up the green influence from the green algae growth from the stones and walls within the New Grange chamber.
*Enlargement of Orb:
Salmonellus
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The banding is an interesting observation. I can offer a slightly higher resolution version, as I downsized the pictures for posting here.
Here's the orb you were looking at:
there's various degrees of banding in most of them, here's the one on the far left:
Just for context, not all of the interiors showed orbs. Here's one chamber that didn't:
And to set the scene properly, here's an exterior picture showing the grating covering the entrance - and an orb inside! A double one, no less.
An enlarged version:
As I said before, I am not presenting these as evidence of the supernatural, and it would be nice if someone who really understands optics, photography, diffraction effects, etc, could give us a proper explanation of what we're seeing.
Here's the orb you were looking at:
there's various degrees of banding in most of them, here's the one on the far left:
Just for context, not all of the interiors showed orbs. Here's one chamber that didn't:
And to set the scene properly, here's an exterior picture showing the grating covering the entrance - and an orb inside! A double one, no less.
An enlarged version:
As I said before, I am not presenting these as evidence of the supernatural, and it would be nice if someone who really understands optics, photography, diffraction effects, etc, could give us a proper explanation of what we're seeing.
After having looked at all the photographs in more 'wider' detail, I believe I've got a possible theory as to what's actually going on.
Could it be that the amount of backlight that is being produced in front of the camera - against the darkness of the interiors is allowing the lens to pick up tiny air particulates (dust, pollen, etc) which have settled upon the surface of the lens, or that are in front of the lens, are actually producing what appears to look like 'orbs?'
Could it also be that in the chamber that didn't show any 'orbs,' took on more of an over-exposed coverage and overwhelmed seeing the particles?
Could it be that the amount of backlight that is being produced in front of the camera - against the darkness of the interiors is allowing the lens to pick up tiny air particulates (dust, pollen, etc) which have settled upon the surface of the lens, or that are in front of the lens, are actually producing what appears to look like 'orbs?'
Could it also be that in the chamber that didn't show any 'orbs,' took on more of an over-exposed coverage and overwhelmed seeing the particles?
Salmonellus
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I think most people would believe something along those lines, that what we are seeing is produced by floating particulate matter. But I'm not sure how the banding is produced, other than a vague appeal to diffraction bands, and if they are floating particles you would expect orbs to be a lot commoner than they seem to be. And why wouldn't they be visible to the naked eye ?
It's all a bit of a mystery.
When you say "appear to look like orbs", do you mean that there are other, genuine, orb entities that are not produced by light effects? I'd tend to operate on the assumption that by definition an 'orb' is a discrete blobby patch on a photograph. How it got there is the question.
Had a closer look in detail at this image (using visual enhancements): It seems to be a double shift image through a water droplet - as this is what I found lurking inside, along with the transparency image and influence of colour from the grassy background, and paving stone peering through the droplet image:
Also, note the 'loops' within the image to the top left which are the loops from the bottom of the clothes drier.
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skinny
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There's orbs and there's ufos. Orbs can behave like the big boys. I've seen authentic video of orbs toying with Brit military choppers: It draws the nose of a bell jetranger right down to a couple of metres above the ground. Then it pops out of sense vision and, within a second, it appears behind the bird which reverses right over it. It then vanishes and eventually the chopper blows out and away over the farm.
I decided that orbs and ufos are a real phenomenon. I do not believe aliens from other planets are visiting our globes. I think the orbs and ufos and blinky lights outside the atmosphere are psychological expressions and perceptions of ourselves alone.
I decided that orbs and ufos are a real phenomenon. I do not believe aliens from other planets are visiting our globes. I think the orbs and ufos and blinky lights outside the atmosphere are psychological expressions and perceptions of ourselves alone.
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Well, all I would like to add here, is, that when you see an brightly lit, orange-coloured Orb, which is at night and is sitting down in the bottom of a deep valley (ravine) on top of a small stream (local), and the 'Orb' is around twenty feet or so in diameter minimum with a spherical core of something darker inside it, then it suddenly vanishes, and leaves you completely puzzled about what just happened without any explanation for it, then it certainly gives cause to believe these things are for real whatever they are, and whatever they are here for - and from where?
By-the-way, I forgot to mention (as it was a wee while ago now) that the very next day I happened to meet the landlord of the Pub very close to where this occurred, and asked him somewhat discreetly (without revealing what I had experienced the night before) did any of his customers happen to see anything a bit unusual or odd the night before, and he looked a bit surprised and said, yes as it happens, there were customers who had entered his establishment and happened to mention seeing some coloured lights down in the bottom of the valley - the same place as this 'Orb' appeared the previous night.
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Erinaceus
Justified & Ancient
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A portal to the universe of the Oompa-Loompas?
If ghosts fade away with time, in a similar manner perhaps orbs with concentric banding used to be larger and cup and ring marks are the attempts of Neolithic people to make representations of them. I sense a plotline for Ancient Aliens coming on...
If ghosts fade away with time, in a similar manner perhaps orbs with concentric banding used to be larger and cup and ring marks are the attempts of Neolithic people to make representations of them. I sense a plotline for Ancient Aliens coming on...
Junopsis
Ephemeral Spectre
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I just want you to know that that's a sentence I didn't expect to read today, good job
eburacum
Papo-furado
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This 'internal banding' is due to diffraction, producing what is known as an Airy Disk, named after the Victorian Astronomer Royal, George Biddell Airy. Because the object that is the source of the light is not perfectly point-like, this 'orb' has some interesting internal features.
Airy Disks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airy_disk
Airy Disks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airy_disk
skinny
Material Girl
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If only a author could wrap a chapter around that thing.
yep
skinny
Material Girl
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Salmonellus
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Thank you for that. Fascinating! One of the best things about this board is the number of well informed people from whom you can learn new things.This 'internal banding' is due to diffraction, producing what is known as an Airy Disk, named after the Victorian Astronomer Royal, George Biddell Airy. Because the object that is the source of the light is not perfectly point-like, this 'orb' has some interesting internal features.
Airy Disks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airy_disk
You've got me thinking now. Could a laser pointer shining into a camera lens produce the same pattern? I might try it.