UFO Alien Angel Spirit Ghosts

UFO Alien Angel Spirit Ghosts
UFO Alien Angel Spirit Ghosts



The camera is looking south. Brightness along the horizon is a combination of light pollution from Atlantic City and the start of dawn. The two bright stars on the lower right edge of the image are Tau and Zeta Sagitarii, also known Hecatebolus and Ascella respectively. The bright star on the left side of the frame is Alpha Piscis Austrini, also known as Fomalhaut. The constellation of Microscopium is in the bottom center of the sky; Sagittarius is cut off on the right side of the frame; Piscis Austrinus is on the left, and Capricornus is cut off at the top of the frame.

The image was taken with an 18mm wide-angle lens on a Canon 20Da DSLR camera. This frame was shot near the end of an exposure run where I had a remote camera set up that was taking still images all night long that I planned to turn into a time-lapse video showing the Milky Way move across the sky as the Earth turned during the night. The camera was set up on a tripod and an intervalometer was used to take 30-second exposures continuously from 8:44 p.m. to 4:45 a.m. This photo was taken at 4:20:18 a.m. This is the only frame out of 962 total frames that displayed the phenomenon.

My local astronomy club had a public observing session early in the evening called a "Star Watch" where members brought out telescopes for the public to look through. A few of us hard-core observers stayed the rest of the night to continue observing privately since it was clear. By the start of dawn, there were only two of us left.

Exposure Data
  • Lens: Canon 18 - 55mm f/3.5 - 5.6 IS Zoom
  • Focal Length: 18mm
  • F/stop: f/3.5
  • Exposure: Single 30 second exposure
  • Mount: Fixed tripod
  • Camera: Canon EOS 20Da DSLR
  • Mode: JPEG Fine Large
  • ISO: 1600
  • White Balance: Daylight
  • In-Camera Noise Reduction: Off
  • Filter: None
  • Temp: 63F 95% RH
  • Time 4:20:18 a.m. edt
  • Date June 28, 2009
  • Location: Batsto Historic Village, NJ
  • Calibration: None
  • Processing: Standard in-camera JPEG processing, resized for web in Photoshop CS2.

This is the original un-retouched image. It has only been resized for display on this web page, and my copyright notice added to it. You can right-click on the image to save it, and examine the original EXIF header information if you would like to prove that the image is un-doctored.

The Morning After


Until now.

I actually had to file a freedom-of-information lawsuit to get my own image released. Finally, yesterday, the courts ruled that I could finally publish the picture, which I am doing today, April 1, 2010.

Confessions of a Former Skeptic

I am a veteran astronomical observer. I usually stay out all night, almost every clear night with no moon. I have, literally, tens of thousands of hours of observing experience under the stars in the last 40 years.

I will even admit to almost being fooled by the simplest of astronomical phenomenon while on an airplane at altitude - mistaking the brilliant planet Venus for another airplane.

As an experienced observer and astrophotographer, I frequently get asked to identify unknown objects and artifacts in images. All are easily explainable, since I have seen virtually all of them in my own images. And, I've also made just about every kind of mistake you can make to produce strange images - all of which are easily explainable.

I have observed the stars, planets, nebulae, galaxies, star clusters, asteroids, moving satellites, geosynchronous satellites, planes, helicopters, meteors, comets and I have never seen anything like this in the sky or in an image.

Trust me, I am very critical and skeptical observer. I have seen many many different types of plane and satellite trails, reflections, iridium flares, tumbling satellites, parachute flares, noctilucent clouds, ball lightning, atmospheric inversions, green and blue flashes, weather balloons, optical illusions, sprites, lenticular clouds, hoaxes, meteoric fireballs, bolides, birds, missle launches, moondogs, parhelia, psychological and physiological illusions, rainbows, moonbows, and even firefly trails in long-exposure images. Once I observed a small helium balloon with an illuminated chemical stick tied to it that was released at an observing field full of amateur astronomers, none of whom could not identify it. Once I observed a NOSS triple tethered satellite pass overhead soon after its first launch while it was still secret. Once I recorded the shadow of a bug that crawled across the sensor in the camera during a long time exposure.

But, I have never seen anything like what was recorded in this image.

Until now.

Now we have actual physical evidence - this photo.

Image Analysis

The time stamp on the image is 4:20:18 a.m. although it may have been off by a couple of seconds because digital clocks built into computers (which is what a digital camera actually is) are notorious about not keeping accurate time to the second. But I had synchronized the camera's clock with the official atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory only a few days earlier, so I know it wasn't off by more than a couple of seconds.

This means the image was taken well before sunrise, which occurred at exactly 5:33 a.m. that morning. The camera was pointed south, so the phenomenon could not have been related to any type of solar activity or reflections, or flare. The Moon was also not up at this time, not rising until 12:24 p.m.

At the time this image was taken, I was completely alone. I let the camera run even though astronomical twilight had started, because I was packing up by telescope equipment in the car, which was located behind the camera.

Judging from the government's reaction, I feel fairly confident that they know exactly what it is, although they obviously won't say. The appellate court's ruling is currently being appealed to the United States Supreme Court with the government invoking the National Security Doctrine and State Secrets Act in an attempt to further suppress this evidence. So it is possible that I may be forced to remove this image within a matter of days and could be facing fines and/or imprisonment and even extraordinary rendition.

Being familiar with every type of natural explanation for inexplicable images, I can say for sure that this is the real thing.

The Most Plausible Explanations for the Phenomenon

Although I previously believed that it is statistically and logically likely that intelligent life exists in the universe, until now, I just didn't believe that it had visited the Earth.

Honestly, I have simply never believed in UFOs because I subscribe to the principle of Occam's razor, and Carl Sagan's dictum that "extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence". And, frankly, until now, there just hasn't been any good evidence. The testimony of Cleetus, a drunk farmer from Yokleville Arkansas, does not meet those stringent requirements.

The universe is an incredibly old at 13.7 billion years and gigantic place, containing, literally, hundreds of billions of galaxies, each containing hundreds of billions of stars. Multiply 100 billion by 100 billion, and that is a minimum of 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars. If even only a microscopic fraction of those stars developed intelligent life, that would mean there are millions of possible civilizations out there, notwithstanding the Drake equation, Fermi's paradox, the anthropic principle, Goldbach's conjecture and the Pauli exclusion principle.

Given these facts, the most plausible explanation for the phenomenon captured in this image is the afterglow of some type of hovering alien extraterrestrial (UFO) drive system powering a faster-than-light craft, possibly by the inhibition of Inertia, entropy, or access to the dark energy of the quantum vacuum.

Another very plausible explanation involves a possible ghost / spirit connection because it was taken at Batsto Historic Village, a well-know location of paranormal and supranormal activities.

Perhaps the alien spirts of UFO ghosts from a crashed star ship had been disturbed by the presence of so many people on what could have possibly been an ancient undiscovered indian burial ground. The actual ground and geologic formations that make up the Pine Barrens date to the late Pleistocene era, so many astral spirits undoubtedly inhabit the region.

Yet another very possible explanation is that the image is actually one of Angel's wings flapping with holy light.

It's also possible that the members of the public who were observing earlier in the night, had their subconsciousness call out to the aliens / ghosts / spirts / angels / demons, who, sensing that they were vulnerable in an isolated location far from civilization (the nearest paved road was nearly 10 meters away, and the nearest bar was about 10 kilometers away) perhaps came to abduct / save them, but having to travel great Interstellar and / or Interdimensional distances, arrived after most had left.

Finally, we have the possibility that the image recorded some sort of bizarre light ritual associated with the Jersey Devil. It is well known that in their Satanic rituals, the Pineys in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey routinely sacrifice infants, goats, virgins and even virgin goats, although the latter are getting harder and harder to come by lately. These sacrifices summon the demon / demons that are popularly referred to as the "Jersey Devil" and a night of debauchery / communing with extraterrestrials follows.

The Secret Truth Revealed

I mentioned earlier that I know exactly what occurred during the 30 seconds that the shutter was open and this image was being taken. I know because I was there, and I saw it with my own eyes. I just didn't realize the profound effect it would have on me until I actually looked at the images the next day while editing them.

The phenomenon recorded in this image is really... uh oh... got to go. I can hear the black helicopters outside right now landing on my lawn, and I must hide.

Ok, ok. Here is the truth...

The image is absolutely real. It is not doctored or retouched in any way.

It's presentation as evidence for extraterrestrial or paranormal activity is, however, a hoax. It is what we like to call an April Fool's Day Joke.

The description of how the image was taken, and the technical data for it, are factual.

The truth doesn't start to get slippery until the first paragraph after the exposure data. Although this image was, honestly, not manipulated or doctored in any way, you can not tell that by examining the EXIF data in a JPEG image.

The story turns into a ridiculous flight of fancy when I start talking about the NSA, government cover-ups, court orders, UFOs, extra-terrestrials, ghosts, spirits, angels, demons, and the Jersey Devil.

The light source in the image is simply an LED flashlight carried by my good friend, Joe Stieber, who walked through the image during one of the 30-second exposures checking the ground to be sure no eyepieces or equipment was left behind when we packed up. Joe was sweeping the light back and forth, which accounts for the sinuous light path on the ground and the gaps in the light above the ground as it faced away from the camera.

Although estimates of the age of the universe are accurate, and numbers of stars and galaxies are a good approximation, and the Drake equation and Fermi's paradox are excellent and logical discussion of possible real extraterrestrial intelligence, Goldbach's conjecture and the Pauli exclusion principle have nothing to do with the subject and were just included for a laugh.

The moral of this story is to be a skeptic. Don't believe everything you see or read on the internet. A photo and a story are not proof of anything, especially when presented by someone intentionally trying to deceive you for an April Fool's day joke.

As James Oberg said, "Keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out."

Note: They MADE me write this last section to destroy my credibility!

Digital Astrophotography Techniques









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Catching the Light - On the web since August 18, 1999