Tuesday, April 20, 2021

The Navy's Triangle Bokeh UFO Video shows Jupiter and Stars

In a post on April 10, I talked about the recently-leaked Navy video of supposed "triangle shaped" unidentified objects, taken on a Navy ship. (Since then, that story has exploded in the press.) I wrote that the triangular-shape of the objects was apparently due to Bokeh,  "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light." On April 15, Mick West released this video, showing pretty conclusively that the shape of the objects in the video reflects not their actual shape, but instead the shape of the lens opening. Jessee3939 on Metabunk found that his night vision monocular indeed had a triangular-shaped iris inside it, and this device, too, produced trianular-shaped images of out-of-focus objects, just like in the Navy UAP video.

Night Vision device with a triangular iris. Out-of-focus objects look triangular.

On April 13, some dude calling himself Dylan the Villain posted the following on Twitter, identifying the objects seen at the start of the now-famous video as Jupiter, and several stars in Scorpius:

"Dylan the Villain" identifies the objects seen at the start of the video

Mick West took the matter further, identifying stars seen later in the video. On April 17, he posted on Twitter that
Those two "pyramids" that the "pyramid" UFO flies towards at the end of the video are Okab (the lower, brighter one) and Deneb al Okab Borealis (Epsilon Aquilae) above it. It all matches, angles, intensity, positions.

It's a plane, flying past some stars.

Mick West's identification of many of the stars seen in the Navy's now-famous Bokeh UFO Video

As a longtime amateur astronomer, to me all of the above looks absolutely correct (apart from the fact that nobody ever actually uses or even recognizes star names like "Okab" - let alone "Deneb al Okab Borealis" - but "Zeta Aquilae" will be easily understood). 

On April 19, West posted a short video in which the flashing object is stabilized (roughly) using two stars for reference. All of the objects are triangular-shaped, because of Bokeh. In it he demonstrates that  "the "UFO" moves and flashes in the way a plane does. (And at around 400-450 knots, if @33K ft)." The complete thread discussing this video on Metabunk is here

Meanwhile, Corbell is basking in the media's uncritical exploitation of this video for ratings and clicks, having been interviewed by numerous news organizations in the U.S., as well as in the UK and Australia. He appeared  on Fox News, saying that the film is "potentially the best the world has ever seen." Wow! Some out-of-focus stars and a planet. Nice work, Pentagon "experts"!

 



 


Sunday, April 18, 2021

Gone With The Stars.........

UFO News has been dominated for the past three years by the antics of Tom DeLonge and his "To The Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences." They seemed to be on a roll, despite their history of providing clueless misinformation. They even produced two seasons of a popular TV series Unidentified, on the "History" Channel, which surely must have been quite profitable.

Earlier this year, I wrote how TTSA seemed to be "unraveling," losing most, perhaps all, of its best-known people, apart from DeLonge himself. Well, this afternoon I happened to be in Encinitas, so Istopped by their "Flagship Retail Store" to see what might be happening with To The Stars. Here is what I saw:

This used to be the "To The Stars Flagship Retail Store."

This photo was taken from the same spot in February of 2020.


How the Mighty have Fallen! I've not heard any official report on the future (if any) of To The Stars, and I suspect that those who "invested" in that scheme are simply out of luck.

Google Maps has this to say about that Flagship Retail Store:




Monday, April 12, 2021

New Navy UFO Photos - Party Balloons?

In addition to the newly-published "Pyramid Shaped UFO" Navy video discussed in the previous posting, two new Navy UFO photos have just been published. They are from the same source as the previously-published "ACORN" object

Reporter George Knapp, who has seems to turn up everywhere that UFO news is being reported, published an article in The Mystery Wire: "Mystery Objects Remain Unidentified. New photographs obtained by Mystery Wire show different shaped objects." 

Three Navy UAP Photos: The "“METAL BLIMP W/ PAYLOAD”, the “SPHERE”, and the "ACORN."

Knapp writes that on On March 4th, 2019, 

An F-18 weapons systems officer (WSO) seated behind the pilot used his iPhone to capture images of three different objects he encountered in the same airspace.

At 3:02 p.m. he photographed an odd shaped object. Another photo, taken close to the same time, was first posted to twitter on May 11, 2020, then again on social media 6 months later.

Other photos taken on the same day; March 4th, 2019 have never been made public until now.

The object the Navy calls the “Sphere” was photographed at 2:44 p.m.

The second one to be photographed was dubbed the “Acorn.” A similar, but different photograph of this same object was published online in December 2020.

Then, 12 minutes later, the WSO spotted a third object,  described as the “Metallic Blimp.” It appears to have various appendages.

Mystery Wire first learned of the photos exactly two years ago during a private briefing hosted by Robert Bigelow and several others in Las Vegas on Saturday, April 6, 2019.
(Make of that last sentence what you will!)

The "SPHERE" simply looks like an out-of-focus object. The iPhone had not yet achieved focus on the small object against a bright sky. Probably it is a balloon. As in the previous post, we are dealing here with "Bokeh,"  "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light."

The "“METAL BLIMP W/ PAYLOAD” looks very much like another toy or party balloon. UFO researcher Curt Collins compares it to a Shark balloon sold at party stores.

Curt Collins compared the "METAL BLIMP W/PAYLOAD to a Shark balloon sold at party stores.

I have already written about the previously-published "ACORN" object photo,  which bears a striking resemblance to a Batman party balloon.

Comparing two Batman party balloons to the "ACORN" object (center)

Jason McClellan on Rogue Planet TV had some interesting comments about these three photos. He ran them through software to enhance and enlarge them. The "SPHERE," he agrees, in an out-of-focus object, and no useful information can be obtained about it. He suggests that the "METAL BLIMP," when ehanced, "almost takes on a shark appearance." (I'm wondering if he'd already seen Curt Collins' comment above when he said that?)  He also notes, "you could even maybe make out a sort of cinching at the bottom," i.e. where the balloon's inflation valve was tied tightly at the bottom.

Jason McClelland's enhancement of the "METALLIC BLIMP" photo.

But as for the "ACORN" object - the most interesting result of the three, he says - when enhanced looks more like a solar balloon than a Batman balloon, "and it, too, looks like it's cinched at the bottom." This is a very plausible suggestion, I think.

Jason McClelland's enhancement of the "ACORN" object.

(Does anyone remember the "Smart DeBlur" software that was used to finally read the blurred plaque on the "Roswell Slides" back in 2015? I'm wondering if anyone has tried using that software to enhance these photos?)

 Provenance

Perhaps I should have explained more clearly in the previous posting that all four of these recently-published UFO cases - the three balloon-like photos, and the "pyramid shaped object" video - were presented, and later leaked, from classified Defense Department briefings, about which so much has been whispered. Paranormal filmmaker Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell is working with Knapp on this investigation. Corbell gives their origins as follows:

BRIEFING / EVENT SERIES #1

An event series described involves the USS Russell.

This UAP event series took place during July of 2019 - involving Strike Group 9 within the Warning areas off of San Diego.

The USS Russell observed and recorded multiple “pyramid” shaped craft (see below image and video).
BRIEFING / EVENT SERIES #3
An event series described involves an FA-18 pilot and a Weapon Systems Officer on March 4, 2019

Event series took place in the W-72 warning area off the coast of Oceana.

This series involved the WSO taking personal mobile phone images of UAPs out the cockpit.

The intelligence briefing clarifies that the WSO captured THREE different craft on the same sorti with the same cell phone.

The “ACORN” UAP (first made public on Twitter / May 11th 2020)

The “METAL BLIMP W/ PAYLOAD” UAP (first made public via Mystery Wire / April 6th 2021)

The “SPHERE” UAP (first made public via Mystery Wire / April 6th 2021)

So these photos, and that video, are the 'best of the best,' as far as Defense Department "experts" are concerned. I'm trying to imagine the dialogue that must have taken place at these briefings:

"And here we see an out-of-focus blur that looks like a sphere."

"Wow, I've never seen anything like that before!!"

It's obvious that none of these "experts" has any experience using cell phone cameras, telescopes, or night vision devices.

Balloon UFOs Over Brazil

Scott Brando of UFO of Interest illustrates how a famous "pyramid shaped" Brazilian UFO photo from 2015 has been shown to be a balloon. When photographed in the sky, it looks very much like these Navy Balloon/UFO photos. 

Pyramid-shaped UFO over Brazil - now identified.

The Navy's "UFO Repeaters"

"UFO Repeaters" - People who claim to sight and/or photograph UFOs on multiple occasions - rightly have a bad reputation among serious UFO investigators. Dr. J. Allen Hynek warned that being a "repeater" lowers a witness's credibility. George Adamski. Billy Meier. Steven Greer. Mr. and Mrs. Paul Trent. Etc. 

It should be noted that several of the recently released/leaked Navy UFO photos and videos are the product of "repeaters." Corbell wrote (above) that " the [Weapons Systems Officer] captured THREE different craft on the same sorti with the same cell phone." In other words, the "ACORN", the “METAL BLIMP W/ PAYLOAD”, and the “SPHERE” photos all came from the same individual - the very definition of a "UFO repeater." - using the same cell phone camera, and even on the same day. 

The same situation seems to prevail with the now-famous "Gimbal" and "Go Fast" UFO videos, first "leaked" by To The Stars, then later officially released. While no connection between the two videos has been officially acknowledged,  according to poster Blu3Skies on Reddit,

if you look to the right side of the sensor overlays you'll see a 4 digit code...  That is the laser PRF code set for laser guided munitions.... Gimbal video is PRF code 1688. It took place in 2015 off the East Coast. Go Fast video is PRF code 1688. Articles sight [sic] it as taking place off the East Coast. Gimbal and Go Fast are both pieces of the same video it appears. No discrepancies in location or time as of now, however, this begs the question whether TTSA is cutting and feeding these videos to us to keep funds rolling in OR the gov is cutting/splicing and releasing them to TTSA intentionally this way.
So it appears that the Gimbal video, and the Go Fast video, were taken by the same aircraft, by the same pilot, on the same mission, and less than 20 minutes apart. While this has not been absolutely confirmed yet, it certainly appears to be true. Mick West examines the "Go Fast" video on Metabunk. Comparing the two videos, he notes that "The display configuration is all essentially the same. The time code at the bottom is in seconds, with a difference of 991 seconds (16.5 minutes) between the end of GO FAST (4254) and the start of GIMBAL (5245)" Others have remarked that the pilot's voice on the two videos sounds like the same guy, especially when he says "dude!".

Mick West compares the data displayed for Go Fast (left), and Gimbal (right)

So while the press would have us believe that our Navy's fleet is being randomly beseiged by mysterious craft, it seems that certain individuals are responsible for most of UFO photos and videos. Four Navy UFO videos and three Navy UFO photos have thus far been published - five of the seven  come from just two "repeaters." They have gone above and beyond the call of duty to contribute to the Navy's UAP (UFO) investigations! 


Saturday, April 10, 2021

New Navy Video - "Pyramid Shaped UFOs," or Camera Artifacts?

 

Paranormal filmmaker Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell is on a roll. On April 8, he published the latest U.S. Navy video supposedly showing triangle or pyramid-shaped craft, using a night vision device.   

Perhaps you saw all the publicity about how "Multiple Destroyers Were Swarmed By Mysterious 'Drones' Off California." This video was taken during that incident. (Corbell has been working with George Knapp on this incident; here is a video of them discussing it.)

Illustration from The Drive of supposed UFO swarm over Navy ship

Corbell wrote,

the US Navy photographed and filmed  "pyramid" shaped UFOs and advanced transmedium vehicles, here is that footage. ... What’s presented here is genuine UFO / UAP footage - evidence - with impressive provenance. These are images and video shot by our US Military - during a variety of UAP encounters. Incursions - by Advanced Transmedium Vehicles of unknown origin - interacting and observing our Navy’s warships and fleet deployments in a restricted airspace. The Night Vision and FLIR technologies represented in this content, in this case, is tied into some of the most sophisticated weapon systems known to humankind. The evidence here must be differentiated from other UAP documentation - due to the context of capture alone. Collectively, this data drop represents a small section within a large mosaic of UAP awareness by our DoD. And its presence in a classified series of intelligence briefings - clearly demonstrates how the UAP subject is being viewed, pursued and handled by the United States defense industry.

It is my hope that these materials will be representative of a unique moment in modern history [emphasis added]; a possible turning point towards the rational and transparent approach of investigating and exploring the mystery of the UFO Phenomenon.

Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell

 

Other UFOlogists were, of course, quick to jump on the bandwagon. Leslie Kean placed it on her Facebook page, and UFO-related  social media was soon filled with it (as well as with two other Navy photos that we will discuss later). At last Disclosure seemed to be occurring!

But others were much more circumspect . Charles Lamoureux, a UFOlogist who has a lot of experience using night vision devices, wrote on Facebook,

Hate to say it but Jeremy Korbell wherever he received this video was done by an amateur filming plane, stars out of focus with likely was Gen 3 or 4 night vision monocular ....nothing at all anomalous in this video...I'm just pointing out the video that is not a triangular object , it's out of focus video of passing plane ..if you know better let's hear it ..I've been skywatching for 10 to 12 years with night vision gear ..I know my stuff and also made a lot of mistakes ..which brings me back why I know this is bad video and should be corrected at the source... It's a man made craft and triangle is from out of focus artefact lens ..it was not pyramid shaped at all..just have to look at the stars as has the same shape..the end user recording did not have the unit in focus yet so it looked like a pyramid..

UFOlogist Christophe Spitzer wrote on Facebook

This looks like a cheap Gen1 NV monocular and the triangle is simply a known artefact generated by the lens diaphragm since you can see the stars become triangular at times. The flashing sequence just reminds me of strobe lights. Could be a chopper or an aircraft imo.

As usual, Mick West published an interesting analysis of it: "Is This Pyramid UFO just Bokeh?" In which I learned a new word: Bokeh,  "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light." He writes,

I suspect these are camera artifacts of mundane objects - specifically stars and a plane (the "flasher"). In the video there are two "pyramid" shapes on the left. The flasher moves towards them in exactly the same way planes move across the sky... the fact that other static lights seem to have the same shape is a big indicator it's just a camera artifact.
From the video, a "pyramid-shaped UFO."

West also wrote, "I timed the brightest flashes (red marks in the timeline above), and they match the anti-collision red flashes of a plane, every 1.5 seconds."

So the next time you hear about how the Pentagon's "experts" are baffled by some video or photo, remember that it's not difficult at all to "baffle" them. A camera artifact can do that easily.