What camera settings should I use to capture photos of UFOs at night?

[jreelawg]

I heard a strange sound coming from outside. I had heard this sound before at night, and was curious, so I went outside and watched the sky to see if I could see what it was. The sound I was hearing is a little hard to explain. The best I can do is that it was a mixture of a hum, a schcoooo, like sound like that of a jet, and it was causing the ari to make these kind of whipping like sounds. The whipping sound was the loudest and then the hum, and then the shccooo sound. Helicopters fly over all the time and it didn't sound like it could possibly be a helicopter too me, although I speculated it might be a rare type, or something. Kind of thought maybe it was some kind of jet with the ability to hover or something.

At this point I'm not expecting to be blown away, but then while I was looking up, expecting to see the lights on a slow moving aircraft, all of the Sudden, from what looked like about 200 feet overhead, three lights forming a triangle, appeared out of thin air, and instantly moved, about what to me looked like less than a quarter mile, at an extremely fast rate before the lights went off. After the lights flashed and went across the sky, the sound slowly faded. The strange thing is that the sounds didn't seam to me to be coming from what ever caused the light. very strange.

Again, three lights in a triangle, appeared to me to be about 10-15 feet wide, about 80 or so feet above a tall tree in my front yard. It happened very quickly. Of course the response I expect is that it was a shooting star. But this thing, flashed on about 200 feet above me. As it flashed on, it went in a slight upward trajectory.

 

[Ophiolite]

The strange thing is that the sounds didn't seam to me to be coming from what ever caused the light. very strange.

You are aware, surely, that sound travels rather more slowly than light. If an object is moving you will hear the sound from where it was some seconds ago, rather than where it is right now.

This is pretty simple stuff - you use it to figure out how far away a thunderstorm is, for example - yet you think it is very strange. That causes me to discount your reliability as an eye witness and to treat your observation as mundane. I will say, though, that your sound description was good - I recognised it at once as a helicopter, even before you discounted those.

(If in the meantime, if you have been abducted by aliens, I apologise for not taking your sighting seriously.)

 

[jreelawg]

You are aware, surely, that sound travels rather more slowly than light. If an object is moving you will hear the sound from where it was some seconds ago, rather than where it is right now.

This is pretty simple stuff - you use it to figure out how far away a thunderstorm is, for example - yet you think it is very strange. That causes me to discount your reliability as an eye witness and to treat your observation as mundane. I will say, though, that your sound description was good - I recognised it at once as a helicopter, even before you discounted those.

(If in the meantime, if you have been abducted by aliens, I apologise for not taking your sighting seriously.)

Right but I heard the sound for about 10 min. before the sighting and about 30 seconds after. The object took about a quarter of a second to move about 1/8 of the way across the visible night sky. The lights looked elongated due to the speed. And I basically saw three skinny elongated ovals move at least 100 times faster overhead than anything I've ever seen. Instead of seeing it coming, it appeared right in front of my eyes out of thin air. The light was not anything like any airplane helicopter or jet lighting.

The only non mainstream physics defying explanation I can think of is that a very low flying ultra silent jet flew over at very high speed, but not at mach speeds. And it turned on and off a set of three lights directly over my front yard for the period of a split second before turning the light off.

Otherwise, it would have to be something that can silently and instantly accelerate to extreme velocity.

 

[jreelawg]

I don't know what I saw, or how to rationalize it. I don't expect anyone to take me seriously, I know I wouldn't if I was you, I just had to try and describe what I saw while it was fresh in my memory. I do know that I am suddenly interested in finding out if others have reported similar sightings.

There is a military base somewhere in a nearby mountain range about 40 miles away from here, at least so I've heard.

 

[jreelawg]

You are aware, surely, that sound travels rather more slowly than light. If an object is moving you will hear the sound from where it was some seconds ago, rather than where it is right now.

This is pretty simple stuff - you use it to figure out how far away a thunderstorm is, for example - yet you think it is very strange. That causes me to discount your reliability as an eye witness and to treat your observation as mundane. [/I])

The strange thing was that I have a hard time attributing the sound to the lights. For the lights and the sounds to have come from the same object, the object would have had to have been hovering right above me right where I was staring with all lights off. Where it was when the lights appeared, the sound would have had to have been louder and clearer if it was a chopper, and it would seam that suddenly accelerating to extremely high speeds would have generated some additional sound. The sound didn't die out until maybe 30 seconds after the lights zipped by. If it was traveling faster than sound I should have heard a sonic boom.

 

[jreelawg]

I will say, though, that your sound description was good - I recognised it at once as a helicopter, even before you discounted those.

I don't know if my description was that great. The whipping sound was not like a chopping sound like a helicopter makes. It was more of almost a howling wind sound with random whips of wind gusts. Sounded like a lot of wild high altitude wind. The schcccooo was the dominant sound reminding me a the sound of a jet airplane passing overhead, only it was not passing by, but just staying in one spot like it was hovering. All this time, I couldn't believe that I couldn't see any aircraft in the sky. It think a plausible explanation would have to be that some craft was using some kind of jet engine or something to hover and it had all it's lights out so it was not visible, and then it activated some kind of high speed propulsion which caused the light. Either that or there was another mysterious aircraft in the area.

I think if I was forced to debunk my sensibility and my perception and go against my intuition, I would have to say the closest thing I have seen are shooting stars. As far as speed, goes at least. These three lights were fixed in relation to each other, they weren't bright like a flash of light, but very brightly glowing and very defined looking. The diameter of the lights in relation to my estimated width of the triangle at 15 feet is about 2 feet in diameter if the object was very low just above the tree line. If it was higher, it they would have to have been much larger. The jets that flew over about 20 min. later had lights that were so dim I could barely see them. And they moved across the sky incredibly slow in relation to the lights I saw.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

(If in the meantime, if you have been abducted by aliens, I apologise for not taking your sighting seriously.)

If you can't be respectful to those sharing a story here, then don't participate in this forum.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Thanks for sharing your report, jreelawg. You might want to file an official report. That way your information can be correlated with that of others who may have seen whatever you saw.
http://www.ufocenter.com/

I have no idea what to think. Perhaps someone else will come up with a reasonable explanation. The UFO reporting center can sometimes provide information about any military activity or atmospheric phemonenon that could account for your report. So, assuming you don't get any better answers, if you do file a report, you should check it for a few months to see if they find anything helpful.

 

[Hepth]

May I ask where you are located? (city/state/country/etc)

 

[Hepth]

There is a military base somewhere in a nearby mountain range about 40 miles away from here, at least so I've heard.

Ah, didn't see that. From the way you describe it, depending on proximity, sounds like a helicopter. Or maybe even, thanks to the military proximity, a V-22 Osprey taking off from vertical. When I worked on an airforce base I saw some land once, and it sounded like what you describe.

 

[Hepth]

is an example i found, sound like this?

 

[BigFairy]

Well thanks for sharing!

 

[ideasrule]

While the memory is still fresh:

How big was the object, in degrees? If you stretch your arm out in front of you, the width of your thumb would be 1 degree. Your clutched hand would span 10 degrees.

How long was after you saw the object did it turn its lights off?

How fast was the object, in degrees per second?
You said the object appeared to be 15 ft wide. How did you estimate this?

You said the object seemed to be 80 ft above a tree. How did you estimate this? Did you see the object block any nearby objects (tree branches, for instance)?

Was the sound consistent with your sighting for the period of time that you saw the object for? That is, wherever you saw the object, did you eventually hear sound from that direction? If so, after how many seconds?

 

[elemental09]

Could be a military jet activating its afterburners? Explains the roar and high acceleration, though not the lack of sonic boom.

 

[DaveC426913]

Could be a military jet activating its afterburners? Explains the roar and high acceleration, though not the lack of sonic boom.

1] Aftrerburners are not so effective that they can accelerate a plane that much. You'll notice a change in speed, but it's not like it will leap forward.
2] Afterburners do not automatically result in speeds exceeding Mach 1.

 

[Pattonias]

1] Aftrerburners are not so effective that they can accelerate a plane that much. You'll notice a change in speed, but it's not like it will leap forward.
2] Afterburners do not automatically result in speeds exceeding Mach 1.

But its cool to say and oh sooo fuel efficient.

 

[Ophiolite]

If you can't be respectful to those sharing a story here, then don't participate in this forum.

That is exactly what I was doing. Earlier in my post I used the sentence.

This is pretty simple stuff - you use it to figure out how far away a thunderstorm is, for example - yet you think it is very strange.

It occurred to me, as I reviewed the post, that calling it "pretty simple stuff" might be interpreted as patronising. My comment about alien abduction was intended as a lighthearted jest to remove any tension those words might have created.

jreelawg, if you also misinterpreted my remark, my apologies. If you took it as it was intended I hope it generated a small smile.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

That is exactly what I was doing. Earlier in my post I used the sentence.

This is pretty simple stuff - you use it to figure out how far away a thunderstorm is, for example - yet you think it is very strange.

It occurred to me, as I reviewed the post, that calling it "pretty simple stuff" might be interpreted as patronising. My comment about alien abduction was intended as a lighthearted jest to remove any tension those words might have created.

jreelawg, if you also misinterpreted my remark, my apologies. If you took it as it was intended I hope it generated a small smile.

Okay, thanks. Those sorts of remarks aren't appreciated when someone has seen or experienced something unusual. In fact that is the sort of thing that prevents many people from sharing their stories.

If you are unlucky enough to see something REALLY strange, you can count on constant ridicule even from people expected to believe you, like close friends and family members. And it doesn't matter how you represent yourself. Most people will interpret a story to fit their own expectations, and the storyteller is labeled accordingly. I have watched it happen here for over six years.

So, most people learn not to talk about it...whatever IT was.

 

[Noja888]

This may sound as unbelievable as your story but my brother and his friend had a very, very similar story. I do believe him, as I believe yours. Its just very hard to wrap the mind around it. The three lighted triangle type craft/UFO has been spotted and described by many witnesses. I will try to find some links at request I came across some time ago. A few Discovery/History channel shows have also talked about this triangle craft.

Edit by Ivan - inappropriate comments and link deleted. No fringe/crackpot theories or websites please.

 

[VooDooX]

I will share my ufo story but i really dotn know what it was . my mom was stationed at Minot AFB North Dakota it was around 3am, and i was spending the night at a friends house. there were 6 of us so we were up all night, and his window didn't have a curtain. we were playing zelda 64 i remember that. all of a sudden one of my friends yelled WOAH look at that! we looked out the window, and what seems to be a missle was shooting strait up no smoke trail nothing just a ball of light witht he beams coming off of it (like when you squint and look at street lights) .. minot being a strategic air command base the sirens were blaring prolly woke everyone up but most people actually ignored the sirens since they went off so much due to tornadoes. but this was a clear night no clouds but the aurora Borealis was shimmering (hence why people were looking outside) also comet hale bopp was covering at least 60% of the night sky (this is no exaggeration there was no way you could miss it it was at least 30-40 times the width of the moon due to atmospheric lensing I am sure but it was amazing and I am very happy i got to live there and see that). anyways back to the object. since there was tons of ambient light like 40% normal daylight i would say due to tons and tons of stars/Aurora/Hale bopp. i could tell there was no smoke trail and it was raising REALLY quickly. my first thought was missile since 40% of Americas nuclear arsenal was within miles of the base (Minot is near the geographical center of north America) but there was only 1 so i figured cool a test missile launch at night i can watch this and the light must be the thruster i was still confused about no smoke but didn't care much then i thought hey... why would they blare the missile raid sirens if they were the ones test firing it? then all of a sudden the object turned 90 degrees in a split second and shot off into the distance and disappeared no noise nothing in the paper or news the next day no one else i asked ever saw it and to this day have no clue what it could have been it it moved literally from perfectly vertical for perfectly horizontal no speed change and instantly it was a 90 degree movement and it moved at a 30 degree angle away from me at amazing speed the light was a bluish yellow

 

[jreelawg]

Another sighting last night. Here's what happened this time.

Between the period of about 11:45 PM, and 3:30 AM, there was an aircraft flying around the area around my house. This time, I had a visual of it's lights. It was fairy low flying, and slow moving, and I was hearing it on and off for about 3 hours. It had normal looking man made aircraft lighting as far as I can tell. The sound it made was like what I heard the other night, so I had a small camera on just incase I saw the lights again. I got a good recording of the audio of this aircraft, I might post it. This time there was only the sskkoo
sound, and the wind disturbances that followed it around.

It passed over, I turned on the camera(which probably couldn't capture anything at night anyways except sound. Then the craft passed out of sight, I walked inside. A few minutes later, I heard the aircraft flying over again, went out, stared at it, it went over and off into the distance, and then I saw a triangular shaped set of streaked lights, this time much dimmer, almost ghostly, very close, curve around a nearby tree, in a trajectory that looked like it would have had to crash into the ground from where I was standing. It moved very fast, and looked to be about 5 or six feet wide.

This freaked me out. I went inside, and locked the doors trying to get a grip on what I just saw. I can't wrap my head around it.

One idea that popped into my head, is that it's some kind of training mission, like hide and go seek. Maybe the strange triangular shaped lights are a military craft, and the pilot is trying to evade and hide from the other more conventional craft which tracks it?

The second idea that popped into my head was that they are testing some kind of technology meant to give an illusion of a physics defying craft. Maybe some sort of hologram.

So far I have established that both events started at about midnight, and both on a saturday night.

I'll see If I can post a clip of what the conventional craft sounds like, I have a slow internet connection.

I had just begun to convince myself that I the last time I saw some shooting stars, now I see this thing weaving around trees. It kind of hurts to be so close to something so unexplainable. Maybe I should get checked for brain tumors?


I live in Northern California, in a rural area. The military base I was referring to is supposed to be in the mountains out mendocino pass.

 

[robocop]

Another sighting last night. Here's what happened this time.

Between the period of about 11:45 PM, and 3:30 AM, there was an aircraft flying around the area around my house. This time, I had a visual of it's lights. It was fairy low flying, and slow moving, and I was hearing it on and off for about 3 hours. It had normal looking man made aircraft lighting as far as I can tell. The sound it made was like what I heard the other night, so I had a small camera on just incase I saw the lights again. I got a good recording of the audio of this aircraft, I might post it. This time there was only the sskkoo
sound, and the wind disturbances that followed it around.

It passed over, I turned on the camera(which probably couldn't capture anything at night anyways except sound. Then the craft passed out of sight, I walked inside. A few minutes later, I heard the aircraft flying over again, went out, stared at it, it went over and off into the distance, and then I saw a triangular shaped set of streaked lights, this time much dimmer, almost ghostly, very close, curve around a nearby tree, in a trajectory that looked like it would have had to crash into the ground from where I was standing. It moved very fast, and looked to be about 5 or six feet wide.

This freaked me out. I went inside, and locked the doors trying to get a grip on what I just saw. I can't wrap my head around it.

One idea that popped into my head, is that it's some kind of training mission, like hide and go seek. Maybe the strange triangular shaped lights are a military craft, and the pilot is trying to evade and hide from the other more conventional craft which tracks it?

The second idea that popped into my head was that they are testing some kind of technology meant to give an illusion of a physics defying craft. Maybe some sort of hologram.

So far I have established that both events started at about midnight, and both on a saturday night.

I'll see If I can post a clip of what the conventional craft sounds like, I have a slow internet connection.

I had just begun to convince myself that I the last time I saw some shooting stars, now I see this thing weaving around trees. It kind of hurts to be so close to something so unexplainable. Maybe I should get checked for brain tumors?


I live in Northern California, in a rural area. The military base I was referring to is supposed to be in the mountains out mendocino pass.

you would be a hero if you posted a video of these experimental crafts. I don't discount your story, I've just heard so many that I really like evidence. It's easy to make a user account and post a video on youtube.

 

[aspergers@40]

I don't know if my description was that great. The whipping sound was not like a chopping sound like a helicopter makes. It was more of almost a howling wind sound with random whips of wind gusts. Sounded like a lot of wild high altitude wind. The schcccooo was the dominant sound reminding me a the sound of a jet airplane passing overhead, only it was not passing by, but just staying in one spot like it was hovering. All this time, I couldn't believe that I couldn't see any aircraft in the sky. It think a plausible explanation would have to be that some craft was using some kind of jet engine or something to hover and it had all it's lights out so it was not visible, and then it activated some kind of high speed propulsion which caused the light. Either that or there was another mysterious aircraft in the area.

I think if I was forced to debunk my sensibility and my perception and go against my intuition, I would have to say the closest thing I have seen are shooting stars. As far as speed, goes at least. These three lights were fixed in relation to each other, they weren't bright like a flash of light, but very brightly glowing and very defined looking. The diameter of the lights in relation to my estimated width of the triangle at 15 feet is about 2 feet in diameter if the object was very low just above the tree line. If it was higher, it they would have to have been much larger. The jets that flew over about 20 min. later had lights that were so dim I could barely see them. And they moved across the sky incredibly slow in relation to the lights I saw.

Superb tail. It's a classic cryptozological encounter imo i.e. a living creature that is unknown to mainstream science. Similar fast moving and hovering lights were filmed by tv's 'Monster Hunter' when the team went to search for the Ropen of New Guinea.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Superb tail. It's a classic cryptozological encounter imo i.e. a living creature that is unknown to mainstream science. Similar fast moving and hovering lights were filmed by tv's 'Monster Hunter' when the team went to search for the Ropen of New Guinea.

Fringe theories are not up for discussion; ever.

 

[Robert Powell]

Another sighting last night. Here's what happened this time.

It passed over, I turned on the camera(which probably couldn't capture anything at night anyways except sound. Then the craft passed out of sight, I walked inside.

Jreelawg,

In order to increase your chances of taking photos of an object at night, you should practice with your camera on known objects so that you can determine the best camera settings. Put your camera in a manual setting if possible so that you can play with the exposure time, ISO setting, and f-stop. Try to photograph a plane passing overhead. Determine the dimmest object that your camera can photograph at night. Start with Jupiter or Venus and if you can photograph those successfully, move to stars of varying brightness.