An illustration of the Moon Terminator Tilt Illusion Mick West 2026-09-20 | An illustration of the Moon Terminator Tilt Illusion
Investigation Alien - A Preview Analysis Mick West 2024-10-11 | My first impression of George Knapp's upcoming docuseries "Investigation Alien" - with particular attention on the UFO videos shown, which are mostly things we're all familiar with.
Videogame Science and UFO Analysis Mick West 2024-08-24 | What’s a videogame programmer doing analyzing UFO videos? And why should people trust what a programmer has to say when people with PhDs in physics disagree with him? In many ways, videogame programmers make ideal UFO investigators: the simple math used to make 3D objects move in a virtual setting and the code used to display them can be reversed, used to break down UFO videos and figure out where the object is, how far away it is, and what it’s doing.This was a talk I originally gave for the Center for Inquiry's "Skeptical Inquirer Presents" on April 27, 2023centerforinquiry.org/video/videogame-science-and-ufos-mick-west
What Luis Elizondo got very wrong about the UFO videos. Mick West 2024-08-21 | What Luis Elizondo got very wrong about the UFO videos in his book "Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs"Reference:Gimbal Analysis: youtube.com/watch?v=qsEjV8DdSbsGoFast Analysis: youtube.com/watch?v=PLyEO0jNt6M (no including wind)FLIR1 (Tic-Tac) motion analysis: youtube.com/watch?v=U1di0XIa9RQAguadilla Analysis: youtu.be/0fho4YyXWfE?t=86Raw videos:On April 27, the US Navy released official versions of these three UFO videos. All videos are the same length as older versions. FLIR1 is slightly higher bitrate than the TTSA version, but worse quality than the 2007 F4 version, even though F4 is lower resolution. GOFAST and GIMBAL videos are the same resolution at double the bitrate, which is significantly better. These versions of GIMBAL and GOFAST should be used for all future analyses, however, for FLIR, the 2007 leaked F4.MPG version via archive.org appears to be better quality.Here are the direct linkshttps://www.navair.navy.mil/foia/sites/g/files/jejdrs566/files/2020-04/1 - FLIR.mp4https://www.navair.navy.mil/foia/sites/g/files/jejdrs566/files/2020-04/3 - GOFAST.wmvhttps://www.navair.navy.mil/foia/sites/g/files/jejdrs566/files/2020-04/2 - GIMBAL.wmvThis is the originally leaked FLIR1, which is better quality than the Navy version. web.archive.org/web/20070209104330/http://www.vision-unlimited.de/extern/f4.mpgHigh quality MP4smetabunk.org/f/2-GIMBAL-CROP-HQ.mp4metabunk.org/f/3-GOFAST-CROP-HQ.mp4 (used in Sitrec)A slightly better crop of converted to MP4 video, no blank frames at the start (Used in Sitrec)metabunk.org/sitrec-videos/public/2 - Gimbal-WMV2PRORES-CROP-428x428.mp4FLIR1 aspect ratio corrected to 242x242 (was 242x216) (used in Sitrec)metabunk.org/sitrec-videos/public/f4-aspect-corrected-242x242-was-242x216.mp4
ATFLIR and The Navy UAP Mick West 2024-02-20 | Mick West, Marik von Rennenkampff and ATFLR technician meet to discuss the ATFLIR UAP videos (Gimbal, GoFast, and FLIR1). 4PM - Mick and Marik have a friendly discussion about their differences. 5PM - Jeremy Snow (ATFLIR technician) joins us to try to resolve some technical details.
TFTRH #58: Peter Bergen - Kirkpatrick, UFOs and the Pentagon Mick West 2024-01-26 | Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, a vice president at New America, a professor of practice at Arizona State University, and the host of the Audible podcast “In the Room with Peter Bergen.” He recently interviewed Sean Kirkpatrick, the former head of the Pentagon UFO investigation office, AARO. We chat about UFOs, National Security, Self-licking ice cream cones, and aliens.
Chandelier UFO Analysis Mick West 2024-01-16 | The "Chandelier" UFO looks pretty weird for a flying craft - probably because it's not a flying craft - it looks suspiciously like a diffraction artifact. It even matches the expected diffraction artifact for the camera used. Metabunk Discussion: metabunk.org/threads/the-chandelier-ufo.13307
Jellyfish UFO Analysis Mick West 2024-01-14 | The Jellyfish UFO videos look bizarre. But they contain enough information to do a range of 3D reconstructions. Analysis shows that, while it might possibly be a non-human-intelligence-related object, it's consistent with two different bunches of balloons, miles apart, drifting in the wind. Discussion with witness Michael Cincoski youtube.com/watch?v=uKkbw4rkOLoSitrec simulation: metabunk.org/sitrec/?sitch=jellyfishMain Discussion Thread: metabunk.org/threads/jellyfish-ufo-from-tmzs-ufo-revolution.13304Discussion of the Southern video: metabunk.org/threads/jellyfish-ufo-the-second-part-south-facing-footage.13308Source for North video: youtube.com/watch?v=7bns_WhNAQM
How to Solve Starlink UFOs with Sitrec Mick West 2023-12-31 | Pilots have been seeing Starlink flares and sometimes mistaking them of UFOs. Here, I demonstrate a tool I've been working on that lets you see what Starlink flares (reflection of sunlight from over the horizon) are happening from a particular location or a particular plane's route.metabunk.org/sitrec/?sitch=nightsky
UAP Investigation with Public Data (ScienceWriters2023) Mick West 2023-10-07 | This is a short video I made for a panel discussion at the ScienceWriters2023 conference in Boulder, Colorado, on October 7th. I briefly discuss the challenges of interpreting videos with limited data availability and describe the process of getting a definitive identification of Starlink satellites on an anonymous video with no date or location. sciencewriters2023.org
Debunked: Maui Directed Energy Weapons Destroying Cars (They Just Burn) Mick West 2023-08-29 | People unfamiliar with car fires are sometimes puzzled by how well they burn. Some resort to wild conspiracy theories about "directed energy weapons" (DEWs). But cars are actually surprisingly flammable — just google "Car Fire" or "Burnt Out Cars" The wildfire ignites the car, and then the car burns itself. It's as simple as that.
TFTRH #57 - Alex Dietrich: Clouds, Critical Thinking, and UFOs Mick West 2023-08-26 | Alex Dietrich served a 20-year career as a Naval officer and fighter pilot with two combat deployments. She was also deployed to Afghanistan as an Infrastructure reconstruction engineer. She then transitioned to academia, serving as a Naval Science Instructor and then a Military professor, teaching, among other things, Critical Thinking, Leadership, and Ethics. Alex is best known to the public as one of the pilots who witnessed the famous Tic-Tac UFO when flying off the USS Nimitz in 2004. She’s appeared on 60-Minutes, CNN, and other shows to discuss her experience and its implication for flight safety and national security.Original Dave Beaty Nimitz Recreation:youtube.com/watch?v=PRgoisHRmUE&t=979s&pp=ygURbmltaXR6IGVuY291bnRlcnM%3DDave Beaty Nimitz recreation from the jet's perspectiveyoutube.com/watch?v=SgGbbYxxyCICritical Thinking websitecriticalthinking.orgMiniature Guide:criticalthinking.org/files/Concepts_Tools.pdf00:00:00 - Start00:01:44 - Cloud Appreciation00:04:02 - Learning To Fly00:08:00 - Critical Thinking00:16:49 - What is Critical Thinking00:20:51 - The Nimitz Incident00:21:24 - Why do we care about UFOs?00:24:56 - Crashed Craft vs. Flying Objects00:31:09 - Funding Shenanigans00:33:23 - Grusch’s more extraordinary claims00:39:17 - Italian UFO 194400:43:27 - Why Mick cares about Alien Craft00:47:17 - Other things are more important00:49:36 - Why does the government have a monopoly on crashed craft?00:52:43 - 5 Minutes vs. 10 seconds01:02:07 - How did the Tic-Tac depart?01:13:14 - Improving the process of reporting UFOs01:22:03 - Starlink flares reported by airline pilots01:28:12 - Escaping the Rabbit Hole (Mick’s Book)01:29:39 - 9/11
Debunks of the Aliens Abducting a Plane Mick West 2023-08-21 | I didn't debunk this one, as I thought it was a bit too silly to waste much time on. But other people found proof that the videos were fake - specifically because they used stock footage from the 1990s. Metabunk Thread: metabunk.org/threads/alleged-flight-mh370-ufo-teleportation-videos.13104Shaking Contrails ( Twitter: @realityseaker)twitter.com/realityseaker/status/1692008019608166906Stock Footage found.: reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/15vizx1/the_plane_video_has_vfx_elements_used_for_theMatch for inner details on another frame:old.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/15vpuif/i_tried_to_match_another_frame_from_the_pyromaniaStock footage for Satellite matchreddit.com/user/happygrammies/comments/15wsxeu/graphic4/?share_id=bhF_koTotqcVU472A1w1x
The Problem with Starlink Mick West 2023-08-20 | Some pilots are reporting Starlink horizon flares as UFOs. There's a real issue in that any report of UFOs carries some stigma and risk of mockery, and we should take pilot reports seriously. The problem is that by ignoring the obvious and easily testable explanations, like Starlink, we dilute the pool of genuinely anomalous reports and risk perpetuating the very stigma we are trying to avoid. Starlink horizon flares (not the familiar trains of bright dots, but rather individual satellites that fade in and out, giving an illusion of maneuvering) are unfamiliar to many pilots, so these reports will continue. Agencies that take pilots' reports need to be aware of the technical aspects and nuances of how these things end up being perceived as dogfights on the edge of space. Because if there actually ARE dogfights on the edge of space, we don't want to miss them.
Jet Engine Glare - Angles and Sizes Mick West 2023-08-15 | In this slightly technical video, I explore the relationship between the tail angle of a jet engine and how big a glare it can make in a camera. Some objections to the "glare hiding a distant plane" hypotheses for the Gimbal and Tic-Tac videos say that the angle is too big for large glares to form, and that there should be more variation in size. I demonstrate that is not the case - using a flashlight. Flashlights (and this video), of course, use visible light, not thermal radiation. But both are part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and both can create glare in their respective cameras. But that's probably a topic for another video.
F-18 Pilot Brian Burke discussing the Navy UFOs Mick West 2023-08-12 | Brian has a BS in Aerospace Engineering and was a Naval Aviator for 15 years, flying an F/A-18. He flew with David Fravor (Tic-Tac UFO witness)We discuss the Navy UFO videos and the current UFO situation from a pilot's perspective. We also discuss the recent "whistleblower" UAP hearing, and David Grusch. Interview recorded August 11 202300:00:00 - Start00:00:38 - Brian's Background00:03:27 - Sensor anomalies00:08:22 - Did anyone see UFOs?00:10:19 - Was there a UFO reporting procedure00:12:38 - Hearing about the Tic-Tac00:15:02 - Would the ATFLIR track Smoothly00:18:47 - What does the Gimbal Shape look Like?00:21:47 - Range data in ATFLIR00:26:16 - What’s happening in Gimbal?00:35:24 - What Brian thinks is going on with Gimbal00:36:13 - Why wouldn’t the Navy know if it was another fighter?00:42:56 - Safety of flight00:48:22 - East Coast vs. West Coast UAP00:51:08 - Balloons00:54:27 - Accounting for things moving fast00:55:47 - Sudden movements of object on FLIR00:57:49 - The Nimitz FLIR 1 video01:04:14 - The UAP Task Force, Recommendations01:10:11 - Green Triangles01:12:54 - The Navy is Stretched Thin01:20:11 - Pilot Illusions01:28:04 - Judging the Distance to the Tic Tac01:34:01 - Tic-Tac Five minutes vs. Ten Seconds01:45:45 - Fravor Faking a UFO01:50:27 - The Whistleblower hearings01:51:14 - Top Secret Clearances01:52:25 - Opinions of David Grusch01:54:18 - Grusch’s Time in Combat01:57:52 - PTSD02:01:57 - Ryan Graves02:03:32 - The Tic-Tac - Radar Correlation?02:09:30 - Tic-Tac - Why did they look down?02:11:51 - Mick’s Videos
Solved: Mile-Long Mothership UFO (Starlink) Mick West 2023-08-02 | A "mile-long" UFO was spotted by five pilots over the North Pacific in 2022. A presentation was made at the SCU conference, speculating this might be an amazing spaceship.But it was just Starlink. Discussion: metabunk.org/threads/solved-mufon-case-124190-mothership-uap-crosses-the-north-pacific-starlink-stack.13071
Recreating the Skinwalker LIDAR Wormhole Mick West 2023-07-16 | A strange void appeared on a LIDAR scan at Skinwalker Ranch. It's not the result of a wormhole UFO portal bending space and time. It's just what happens when you don't move the drone around while scanning.
Twentynine Palms - The Two Photo Locations Mick West 2023-07-08 | Here's a quick video explaining where the two sets of photos of flares in the Twentynine Palms "triangle" case were taken from.
Can we see the Bottle Drop Data? Please? Mick West 2023-06-19 | For a few months now, I've been asking Brandon Fugal (the owner of Skinwalker Ranch) if I could work with a very small amount of data generated by one experiment - the helicopter bottle drop.Recently this was asked of both him and lead SWR scientist Erik Bard, and they suggested I might not fully understand it, or what to do with it. But I very much would, and this video is an attempt to demonstrate that, to help move the process along. I know that one bottle collected an NMEA track. I know how to convert that into an interactive 3D recreation with animation. I know how to analyze the data to demonstrate if the bottle did actually bounce off something in mid-airAnd I'm not asking for the data for just me. I'm asking for a public release, so I can't manipulate the data without anyone noticing. So, why not?Source of the question and Eric's response youtube.com/watch?v=d_8IWUlR38c&t=754sPoll on if the data should be released:twitter.com/MickWest/status/1649860293928030213
Some Thoughts on David Grusch - Alien Whistleblower Mick West 2023-06-12 | I was invited on NewsNation to be the skeptical respondent to Dave Grusch's one-hour interview. Unfortunately, I only had a few minutes, and the questions were along the lines of "why do you think Grusch is lying". I'd made a lot of notes in advance, so I thought I'd take advantage of this prep and record my thoughts in a big brain dump! Turns out I would have needed 45 minutes to cover everything. The full Grusch interview and article/transcript: newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/we-are-not-alone-the-ufo-whistleblower-speaksMy response segment: youtube.com/watch?v=xER7WLaAw-E00:00 Background, Dave Grusch01:25 Lack of Evidence01:47 The Extraordinary claims02:09 Aliens have murdered humans02:33 Football Field sized Tardis?03:12 Italy 1933/1944 Vatican03:32 Vast Conspiracy04:00 Agreement with the Aliens04:27 Problem: This was all Cleared by DOPSR06:55 Maybe it's not true?08:00 The cover-up problem10:19 Do the math on crashes13:59 AARO don't see UFOS15:00 Congress should investigate15:53 "The Program" might be a crash retrieval program17:53 The Art Bell "Metamaterial"18:32 A systemic and cultural failing in the IC19:24 UFO Mythology20:36 ARRO, Kirkpatrick, Title 50 Clearance21:58 Dimensions, Quantum Physics, Travel23:15 Gimbal, pixel saturation, Travis Taylor29:29 The Omaha Sphere video31:10 The usual suspects - Kean and Blumenthal35:00 Ross Coulthart35:51 Garry Nolan37:01 Lue Elizondo37:20 Eric Davis38:00 Hal Puthoff39:44 The Woo (Paranormal)43:40 It would be great if true! 44:58 We may never fully know
Discussing the David Grusch UFO Whistleblower Saga with Pete Dominick Mick West 2023-06-08 | This discussion is from episode #860 of Stand Up With Pete Dominick: standupwithpete.libsyn.com/860-mick-west-on-ufo-conspiracy-theoriesWe discuss the current saga of the UFO Reverse Engineering "whistleblower" David Grusch, and what I really think about what's going on.Pete's Channel: youtube.com/@PetesBigMouthTV
Aguadilla - UFO Analysis with Lines of Sight Mick West 2023-05-24 | This is a presentation I gave at the Inaugural Limina Symposium, Feb 5, 2023. Analysis of 2D video presents the challenge that if the size of an object is unknown, then it can be at any distance. It is, however, constrained to a series of lines of sight. In this video, I discuss how lines of sight are extracted from video data, and how this can be used to determine various possible trajectories. With the Aguadilla UFO video, I demonstrate that there exists a traversal of the lines of sight that is an approximate straight line, and matches exactly the wind that day. This lends significant weight to the hypothesis that the object was something like a pair of wedding lanterns. 00:00 Introduction01:26 Start of talk 01:37 What is a "Line of Sight"?02:54 Why use LOS in UAP investigations?04:54 Specifying Lines of Sight13:22 Example #1 Hayle Beach17:03 Example #2 Aguadilla24:11 Other footage of wedding lanterns by the airport24:35 Objections to the lantern hypothesis25:40 Flame obscured by thin paper in IR. 26:03 SCU's analysis and mistakes27:36 Review of Aguadilla UAP literature29:12 Summary31:56 Q&ALimina is a publication of the Society for UAP studiessocietyforuapstudies.orgOther videos from the symposium can be found here:societyforuapstudies.org/videosAnd on their YouTube Channelyoutube.com/@societyforuapstudies/videos
Twenty-Nine Palms UFO - Flares Identified Mick West 2023-05-23 | A video of five lights over Twentynine Palms, California, videoed by military personnel, gives the illusion of a triangular craft. The illusion breaks down as the lights shift position. A discovery by John Greenwald leads to video of what looks exactly like the lights from another angle. It seems like this mysterious UFO is just five flares. Original videos at the Weaponized podcast: weaponizedpodcast.com/news-1/mojave-triangle-uapGreenwald's discussion: youtube.com/watch?v=D_piRRyCCKMGreenwald's Tweet on discovering the flare video: twitter.com/blackvaultcom/status/1661052262981185536The DoD flare video: dvidshub.net/video/791782/wti-assault-support-training-4-b-rollDoD flare video on YouTube (for date confirmation) youtube.com/watch?v=Hr5Z2VyIryoSource of the "7 minutes" burn time for flares. dvidshub.net/news/136860/vmgr-352-lights-up-night-sky-battlefield-illumination-missionAnother source: LUU-19B/B IR Flare, 7 minutes burnt time: towndock.net/files/LUU_Parachute_Factsheet.pdfMetabunk discussion: metabunk.org/threads/claim-the-mojave-triangle-uap.12967Reddit discussion: reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/13q4kcz/twentynine_palms_ufo_flares_identifiedmick_west
UFO Football - A Friendly Back and Forth Mick West 2023-05-12 | People often send me UFO videos that puzzle them. I'll usually take at least a quick look and give my initial impression. In this case, Mark sent me a video of a bright UFO arcing over a (British) football match as the final whistle blew. I quickly identified what it might be, but Mark disagreed, so I had to dig deeper. Quite a bit deeper!Eventually, after some friendly back and forth, it was resolved and a few lessons were learned. Video Source: twitter.com/itvcalendar/status/1622663920098975759Matching video: youtube.com/watch?v=SqHOrxdKC9E&t=714sThe kick. youtu.be/P94sp-Tapx8?t=587
Embossing the Truth at Skinwalker Ranch Mick West 2023-05-11 | A recent episode of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch claimed that a shiny metallic orb was following close to the owner's helicopter. They even got Utah's Attorney General to endorse those claims. But it wasn't following the helicopter, it wasn't even close to it. More significantly, it wasn't even a shiny sphere - that was just an artifact of the filter they used - the emboss filter. It was just a bit of random airborne clutter that just happened to drift into the frame for a few seconds. The scientists on the team should have known better.Original clip from Season 4, Episode 4: youtu.be/bLr97CzfTLY?t=374
A Hunters Close Encounter with a UFO - Spider Silk Lateral Highlights Mick West 2023-05-06 | This UFO video looked amazing. It was a flying saucer, invisible to the naked eye, hovering by some trees, with bizarre cycling bands of light. But I quickly recognized it as something I'd only recently discovered - highlights on spider silk that form shapes just like this and are unexpectedly perpendicular to the thread.Original Video: youtube.com/watch?v=218n5y9WwWc
Skinwalker Ranch Blob - Just a Reflection? Mick West 2023-05-04 | In Season 4, Episode 3 of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, a mysterious blob appears on one camera when filming a rocket launch.Described as something anomalous, the "blob" looks like an internal camera reflection of the rocket's bright exhaust. You can see the same reflection descend as the rocket rises; there are other examples with the same camera. Unfortunately, the full video is not shown, possibly because it would be pretty obvious that it was just a reflection.You can see most of the "Blob" segment here: youtube.com/watch?v=Vw6oXQcu0Zk
Unidentified Submerged Object - Small, or Far Away? Mick West 2023-03-24 | This looks like a large object moving under its own power, but I think it's actually small, close to the camera, and just drifting in the water. I identify other objects in the video doing the same thing. This was just the largest.Original footage:youtube.com/watch?v=IIQBbiukMsAOriginal video and discussion from @TahoeDeep youtube.com/watch?v=O_Lg595f8II
UAPTF Briefing Slide Shows Only Stars Mick West 2023-03-16 | A slide in a presentation prepared by Jay Stratton to brief congress about UFOs contains only two stars. Yet it's labeled as UNK UAS (Unknown Unmanned Aerial Systems)I demonstrate how you can prove this.Original Mystery Wire image of the slide: mysterywire.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/106/2021/04/NAVY_FILMED_PYRAMID_UAPs.jpgMystery Wire article: kxnet.com/news/national-news/mystery-wire-podcast-pyramid-shaped-ufos-swarm-above-navy-destroyerQuote from that article: "The new images were gathered by the Task Force and obtained by investigative filmmaker Jeremy Corbell, who confirmed their authenticity. Mystery Wire has independently confirmed that the visual materials are included in the briefing presentation prepared by the UAP Task Force.“This (video) was taken on deployment from the USS Russell,” Corbell said. “It shows what they described as vehicles. And they made a great distinction. They made sure in this classified briefing, they made a great distinction that this is not something that we own either a black project, this is not something of a foreign military, that these were behaving in ways that we did not expect. And that they were you know shaped non aerodynamically. Like pyramids, these are flying pyramids!”"Original Video, FOIAed, via The Drive: youtube.com/watch?v=Ybakt2q2zQwFOIA request, with links to files (note there's another similar file, 3004..., showing different stars): foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=DON-NAVY-2021-004596&type=RequestRaw WMV file from the Pentagon: metabunk.org/f/170411ZJUL19.INTERACTION%20WITH%20UNK%20UAS.RSL.001.UNCLASS.wmvRaw file converted to mp4: metabunk.org/f/170411ZJUL19.INTERACTION%20WITH%20UNK%20UAS.RSL.001.UNCLASS.mp4Drive article where the videos were released (lots of additional documents and context) thedrive.com/the-war-zone/navy-releases-videos-from-mysterious-drone-swarms-around-warships-off-californiaMetabunk discussion: metabunk.org/threads/pyramid-ufos-in-night-vision-footage-are-bokeh.11695Minor Correction: At 3:34 I say "seven feet above the deck", which should obviously be seven hundred feet, as on the slide caption.
Sutter Buttes UFO Solved & Balloon Identified Mick West 2023-01-29 | This was pretty obviously a balloon. But people were confused by the weird shape and the dark regions. Making it brighter and stabilizing it made it a lot clearer and eventually let us track down what the balloon was. Crowdsourcing works again!And no, it's not the most serious UFO case. But it was a fun little puzzle and a great showcase of how crowdsourcing is often the best way of figuring out little mysteries like this.
Las Vegas Light Pillar Map Mick West 2022-12-27 | Rare atmospheric conditions over Las Vegas created a map of the city out out light pillars in an ice cloud layer. But only above uplights.It's not a UFO, but it is actually quite extraordinary. A once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon called a Light Pillar MapMetabunk discussion:metabunk.org/threads/las-vegas-ufo-lights-in-clouds-above-the-north-strip-light-pillars.12817Shenzhen light pillar map: express.co.uk/news/weird/1317598/China-UFO-mystery-lights-Shenzhen-Weibo-viral-aliens-sightings-latest-news
Wisconsin Spotlight UFOs Solved! Mick West 2022-12-21 | Videos of some UFOs in Wisconsin that looked like spotlights turn out to be spotlights from a local Christmas Lights display, despite being hyped as UFOs by the Daily Mail!Flanders Family Christmas Light Show: facebook.com/FlandersChristmasLightShow
High Speed Fly-By UFO — Solved! Mick West 2022-11-11 | This UFO video is very unusual looking. They are filming out the plane window when suddenly a huge streak of light flies past at incredible speed. What the heck is it?People quickly noticed that the ground was moving way too fast. It's actually a time-lapse movie, running about 8 times as fast as normal. So the streak of light is probably the motion blurred lights of another plane, flying in the opposite direction.But which plane? Flarkey contacted the video owner and they gave him a flight number (Air France 179) and time, about 5:20 UTC on October 8th. This allowed him to track down a good candidate for the other plane: Fed EX 1273. The two planes cross at a shallow angle, and the FexEx plane is just 1000 feet above the Air France plane, which is perfectly legal, but looks odd when the planes are so close. I downloaded the ADS-B GPS tracks of both planes and dropped them into Sirec, my Situation Recreation software. I adjusted the video to play at 1/8th speed, and adjusted the view to match the lights from the cities seen in the video. Then, bingo, we got a match, it's the Fed Ex plane. So what are the lights? There's four visible, we can tell how long they flash for based on the motion blur, the length of the streak. This white one was a short flash of a bright white strobe. It's so bright it makes these reflections in the triple paned aircraft window. The thin red light is the port side wingtip nav light, then the thicker red light is the red anti-collision light on the belly of the plane. Then in the last frame we see the white wingtip nav lights on the backs of the wings So that was fun, looked amazing at first, and quite confusing, but turned out to be something fairly straightforward. Sitrec is an interactive tool, and you play with this scenario yourself, I'll put a link in the description. There's a whole bunch more in there too, so have a poke around. Original Video and Flarkey's Twitter discussion: twitter.com/AlineCvt/status/1590355510406287360Siterc: metabunk.org/sitrec/?sitch=afr179(Use the "Sitch" menu to try other scenarios)
Brazil UFO Flap Solved! (Starlink Again) Mick West 2022-11-10 | For several days now Pilots in Brazil have been reporting UFOs, which have also been caught on this Web Cam. It's looking South, and the objects are moving mostly from right to left. This is the same thing as in my last video, Starlink satellites. Not the bright Starlink launch trains, that's a different thing. These are deployed Starlink satellites, and you only see them when you look towards the poles (north or south) and where the satellites are low on the horizon and can just reflect the sun at a shallow angle. Like last time, I teamed up with Flarkey to synchronize the video with actual Starlink data. We can identify three stars at the start of the video, and use that as an overlay in Stellarium. Since it was just yesterday I used the current Starlink data, and recorded several minutes in real time. This was then synced with the video, and like last time we see a perfect correlation, where every flaring light matches a satellite. Time, position, speed, and direction. It's 100% Starlink. So once again we're getting a lot of media attention, and a lot of distracted pilots, for something that's 100% explainable. Hopefully with all this attention, pilots will become familiar with phenomena. But I expect reports to continue, probably for several years. Airlines and aviation authorities really need to educate pilots on what they might be seeing in the sky.Previous video with Night Vision footage from the US: youtube.com/watch?v=Ea8BCl2yVU0Metabunk Thread: metabunk.org/threads/multiple-ufos-observed-from-south-brazil-mostly-starlink.12753
These UFOs are Starlink Flares, 100% Mick West 2022-11-05 | Jimmy's original video: youtube.com/watch?v=e-WDx7byI0kAbout 1AM on August the 14th, 2022, Jimmy Church was on the second floor balcony of his house in Palmdale, California, using a night vision device to look for UFOs. He spotted some to the north, and started filming them. On November 3rd, he shared the video on Twitter and someone (sorry I can't find who) suggested to me that it might be the same Starlink flares that pilots had been seeing and mistaking for planes flying in racetrack patterns.A starlink flare happens when sunlight reflects off a flat surface on a starlink satellite. These particular flares are reflecting off the bottom of the satellite, which is parallel to the curve of the earth, and so the reflection mostly misses the ground - which is why, up until now, only pilots at high altitudes had reported them. But Jimmy's night vision device was able to see the much dimmer flares that were visible from the ground. Over on Metabunk we'd noticed that these flares were mostly observed when looking north, towards the big dipper, with the sun directly below the satellites. Due to the tilt of the earth, there's always some satellites that are in sunlight in the summer, when viewed from Palmdale and similar latitudes. Jimmy gave me the approximate time of the video, and Flarkey used the in-the-sky.org site to get an exact match of two flaring satellites at the start of the video. Flarkey also found the correct historical Starlink position data using space-track.org, and I loaded that into Stellarium I identified the stars in the video, the bright one on the left is Doo-bee, part of the big dipper, and I used the stars to overlay a screenshot of the video onto Stellarium, set the time, and pressed play.Result - All of the flaring lights line up with starlink satellites, in the exact same spot, and at the exact same speed. Interestingly, neither in-the-sky.org nor Stellarium thought that all these satellites would be visible. This is because they are right on the edge of sunlight, so any small variation in the calculated shape of the Earth or errors in accounting for atmospheric refraction, could put a satellite in or out of shadow. But since we see they match perfectly, we know that the sun is actually hitting them. These are all Starlink satellites.These starlink flares are only dimly visible from the ground, but are a lot brighter seen from 40,000 feet, from a plane. So we are going to continue to get reports of these moving lights from pilots for the next few years until everyone is aware of the issue. So I suggest that the FAA and the airlines issue advisories to air traffic control and to pilots to minimize distractions and disruption. The frequency will lessen over the winter, due to the tilt of the Earth being away from the sun, but if nothing is done then this exact same flurry of reports will flare up again next summer. Metabunk Thread: metabunk.org/threads/jimmy-churchs-starlink-ufos-in-palmdale.12751Full Synced video: youtube.com/watch?v=cT7UeZI-6OY
Why Racetrack UFOs are mostly Starlink Flares Mick West 2022-10-23 | Over the last few weeks there have been several sightings and videos by pilots, describing what have become known as "racetrack" UFOs. The pilots describe distant lights that seem to be orbiting in circles or a racetrack, a common type of holding pattern. These sightings are generally in the North, by the big dipper, and generally seem to go from left to right. Multiple people have determined that the most likely explanation for these is Starlink satellites, simply because the lights don't go in circles, or a racetrack, they go in a perfectly straight line. They are also in the same place in the sky as some matching Starlink satellites, flying in the same direction, and at the same speed.00:00 Introduction00:13 A "racetrack" is a type of holding pattern00:22 Multiple people say it's Starlink00:42 Pilots disagree01:04 Normal Starlink "trains" are different01:30 How we can tell it's not circling01:57 What's happening is the sun reflecting off the satellite02:18 The flickering color looks like a star, or something in space02:28 Why Starlink and not other satellites?02:46 Using in-the-sky.org to find Starlink satellites03:28 The sun is directly under the satellites04:02 Eyewitness accounts that don't match the Starlink explanation04:27 Reframing as just a flight safety issue and UFO-reporting stigmaMetabunk threads:This video: metabunk.org/threads/why-racetrack-ufos-are-mostly-starlink-flares.12714F-18 Pilot (Hulsey) metabunk.org/threads/retired-f-18-pilot-reports-5-uaps-pacing-his-aircraft-over-channel-islands-8-18-22.12616MUFON 124374: metabunk.org/threads/mufon-report-124374-commercial-airline-pilot-videos-2-objects-circling-starlink-flares-racetrack-illusion.12586Sighting over the pacific: metabunk.org/threads/claim-another-sighting-of-racetrack-uaps-over-the-pacific-probably-starlink.12704Mark Handley's Starlink animation: youtube.com/watch?v=bKj4GDNhH0Q
How Metabunk Tracked Down the Kansas Tic Tac Mick West 2022-09-08 | A video cropped up of a white Tic-Tac UFO seen from a plane. Like most of these videos, the culprit was just another plane - too far away for the camera to make out the wings. But which plane? Metabunk's "Skydentify" forum was up to the task, identifying the planes involved with limited and sometimes conflicting information. I also demonstrate how the Sitrec tool can take the ADS-B tracks from the plane, and show exactly what one plane looks like from the other. Proving 100% that these were the planes in question. Metabunk Thread: metabunk.org/threads/explained-kansas-tic-tac-shaped-ufo-plane.12630
The US Navy Thinks These Stars are Drones. Mick West 2022-06-18 | A recently released video shows a Navy team leader videoing four lights, he describes them as possible drones. However, they were actually easily identifiable stars. Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence, Scott Bray, seems to repeat this in testimony to a congressional committee. Did the Navy, and the UAP task force never actually figure it out?Video with four stars: youtube.com/watch?v=Ybakt2q2zQwExplanation of the Triangular shape: youtube.com/watch?v=-r2oaQWmqkkVideo release to The Drive: thedrive.com/the-war-zone/navy-releases-videos-from-mysterious-drone-swarms-around-warships-off-californiaMore videos: youtube.com/c/MickWest/search?query=bokehDiscussion thread, with links to original videos. metabunk.org/threads/pyramid-ufos-in-night-vision-footage-are-bokeh.11695
Gimbal UFO - A New Analysis Mick West 2022-03-14 | The "Gimbal" UFO is the poster child of modern UFO videos. Leaked in 2017, and officially released in 2019, it's considered by many to show a genuine anomalous craft, exhibiting flight characteristics beyond current human technology. But is it? There are four observables in the video, four things you can check yourself, that demonstrate that the most likely thing we are looking at is actually a camera artifact. It's probably an infrared glare, hiding the hot object behind it, and rotating only because the camera rotates when tracking the target from left to right. This does not mean it's not a "UAP", or that it's not unidentified, or that it's not an amazing craft - it just means it's not actually exhibiting any incredible behavior, and so this opens the door to more mundane possibilities, like a distant small jet, just flying away, the heat of the engines (viewed up the exhaust) creating a large glare in the thermal camera. Edward Current's analysis of possible target flight paths.youtube.com/watch?v=rGzJ9dx3n4oSimulator: metabunk.org/gimbal00:00 Introduction00:22 The Four Observables01:18 What's going on01:59 What I'm not Addressing02:27 A full 3D recreation03:01 The ATFLIR camera03:25 Field of View less than the Moon.03:55 External Gimbal Axes05:05 Tracking left to right05:45 Why the rotation?06:45 Incorporating Bank in the sim08:15 Rotating the camera rotates the image08:47 Derotation09:07 Real world derotation09:22 Glare examples10:21 Glare does not rotate10:43 Glare derotated "rotates"11:06 Dero does not rotate it alone11:27 Differences between sim and video12:05 ATFLIR's inner mirrors12:51 Minimizing roll13:23 Incorporating the glare angle in the sim13:46 Observable #1 - No rotation while banking15:23 Observable #2 - Bumps before rotation16:01 Observable #3 - Rotating patterns16:24 Observable #4 - Derotation match17:12 TL/TW? Implications if it's not a glare.... 17:58 Background information19:23 Patent limitations20:06 Creditsrealityseaker's original research on the first 20 seconds.twitter.com/realityseaker/status/1396908124729069568Metabunk Discussions:Investigation the role of pitch and other facts in the glare angle, Markus.metabunk.org/threads/calculating-and-visualizing-gimbal-angles.12237Edward Current's work on a full 3D model of the object's movement:metabunk.org/threads/gimbal-blender-simulation-with-clouds.12209realityseaker and Edward Current on the initial lack of rotation during banking.metabunk.org/threads/does-the-beginning-part-of-gimbal-debunk-the-claim-that-the-object-rotates.12068Using OpenCV to track the cloud motionmetabunk.org/threads/automated-motion-tracking-in-videos-like-gimbal-and-gofast.12299Credits:Many Thanks to Markus Pitch, Graphs, Data, etc Edward Current 3D Path analysis Chris Lehto Early Feedback Mendel Analysis Robert Hildebrandt ATFLIR Model jplaza Analysis jarlrmai Analysis dimebag2 Analysis Multiple Anonymous A variety of helpAnd many more, thank you all for the helpful analysis, valuable feedback and criticism, and useful discussions.Source codeIf you just want to read the code, then it's mostly in a single file:metabunk.org/attachments/index-html-zip.50217If you want to edit/run the code, and look at the data, then there's a full zip of the project directory. It needs to be run on a server (which can be a local server) due to the local file loading.metabunk.org/f/gimbal-source-code-and-data.zipThere's one additional external dependency, the Three.js library, and a variety of utilities from the examples/jsm folder. Here's the version I'm using. This should be in a folder three.js in the root of the server (which you can obviously change in the code).metabunk.org/attachments/three-js-zip.50218
Quick Debunk: Arizona Light Streak UFO Mick West 2022-03-05 | While these images might look like a giant streak of light in the sky above some mountains, they actually show something on the ground - the Solana solar power station in Arizona. It's hazy, so you can't see the ground, but the super-bright reflected sunlight shines through. Images source: youtu.be/OqZh-0oayqc?t=191Solana power station: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solana_Generating_StationLocation: google.com/maps/place/32%C2%B055'00.0%22N+112%C2%B058'00.0%22W/@32.9004007,-112.8968457,4883a,35y,280.5h,56.74t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x30b6cabc80e1c05d!8m2!3d32.916667!4d-112.966667?hl=en
Three Row UFO over the South China Sea - Probably Flares! Mick West 2021-12-04 | These "UFOs" consisting of three diagonal rows of appearing and fading-away lights looks very confusing at first. But if you compare it to existing video of flares, then it all makes sense. Probably just three military planes dropping flares. Copy of original video: youtube.com/watch?v=c8A1tGBOK9k"Flares at Night" video: youtube.com/watch?v=c5hunxT7MEU&t=36sWhich I first saw posted on Reddit, by "comandante-marcos": reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/r8q34l/20211124_ufos_filmed_from_the_flight_deck_over/hn7b6e1/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3Similar "flares from invisible plane" video: youtube.com/watch?v=8A7MW5q5KgQ
César Escolas UFO is a Fly Mick West 2021-11-30 | Small, or Far Away? Flies are often mistaken for something further away, and hence a big and fast UFO . But they are just flies. Here's a great example from César Escola.Escola's Instagram Post: instagram.com/reel/CWzEPNEA8oe
Explained: Black Triangle Near The Sun Mick West 2021-11-28 | This video supposedly shows some alien spaceship orbiting the sun. The video was taken with the STEREO-A satellite's Extreme Ultraviolet camera, and shows a triangle shape that has been there for years. You can go to Helioviewer.org, select STEREO-A, and EUVI, and you can see this for yourself, and make timelapse videos of it moving. It's actually a camera flaw, probably a speck of dirt on the sensor. We can tell this because there's other similar black dots that move in sync with the "triangle". Here's one. Here's another. This is simply the biggest one. But why does it move? We see that the speck moves with a regular pattern. Over the course of a year it moves back and forth along this short arc. It repeats this every year. This is because the sun's rotational axis, like the earth's, is tilted a bit, about 7 degrees. The images from Stereo A are corrected to keep the axis vertical - otherwise it would swing left and right. At the most the sun is tilted 7 degrees to the left, then six months later (since Stereo A has a one year orbit just like the Earth) it's 7 degrees to the right, because we are now viewing the sun from the other direction. If we measure the amount of rotation of the specks, we see a total of 14 degrees, 7 left, plus 7 right equals 14.If we remove the rotation of the specks, then we see the actual plus or minus seven degree tilt of the sun as we view it from different points in the one year orbit. That's all there is to it. Not an alien spaceship, just some specks on a camera orbiting the sun, which is still pretty darn cool!Helioviewer: helioviewer.orgNASA Page on STEREO-A Sensor defects. stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/artifacts/artifacts_camera.shtmlVideo of the example dust speck mentioned by NASA: metabunk.org/f/2020_01_01_16_09_03_2020_12_07_14_41_00_EUVI-A_171-hq.mp4A detailed look at the EUVI camera. secchi.lmsal.com/EUVI/DOCUMENTS/5171_15.pdf
Utah Drone UFO - A Meta-analysis Mick West 2021-11-23 | Several people took a bash at analyzing the Beaver, Utah, drone video of a UFO that zips by the camera. Some nailed it immediately (not me!), some got it wrong, and then changed their minds as more information came in, and some just got it wrong, then left. Here I look at the various analyses and how they eventually converged on the most likely explanation - that the UFO was something very small, like a bug or a seed, just meandering along in the in air, with most of the apparent speed coming from the drone itself.Raw Footage: tinyurl.com/637kuv20Spreadsheet: metabunk.org/attachments/beaver-ufo-size-distance-speed-xlsx.48017Point Consciousness Analysis: youtube.com/watch?v=sszECCzhDTsJay Lamm's Analysis: youtube.com/watch?v=o4bqTlwLwwAPropellerhead (Rob) Initial Analysis: youtube.com/watch?v=cFN7KofHpcY Propellerhead (Rob) Initial Analysis Math: youtube.com/watch?v=scdK5xcbV-kRob's "Another Way to See it": youtube.com/watch?v=uahYDEPm5s0Rob's visit to Beaver: youtube.com/watch?v=E7Ya1CBH7Nk
Donut UFO - Quick Explanation - Its Bokeh! Mick West 2021-11-16 | Out-of-focus stars (or other small lights) are a common source of "UFO" photos and videos. Sometimes they look like "orbs", and sometimes they have rings in them that make them look more "donut" shaped. Here I demonstrate how you can duplicate the effect with your phone.Diffraction rings explained: telescope-optics.net/diffraction_pattern_and_aberrations.htmGood example of Venus out of focus: youtube.com/watch?v=ydvsLzLYZM0
Zac Cichy and Mick West discuss The DNIs Statements on UAPs Mick West 2021-11-12 | What's the significance of the Director of National Intelligence mentioning things coming "Extraterrestrially" while talking about UAPs? Is "UAP" a loaded term now? How should the government better talk about the UAP issue?Yesterday Zac Cichy and I both watched the "Our Future in Space" talk at the Ignatius Forum. After a brief exchange on Twitter, we decided to have a recorded chat so we could explore out differences with a bit more nuance than tweeting allowed. Audio file (mp3) version of this video. metabunk.org/f/Mick%20West%20Zac%20Cichy%20-%20UAPs%20and%20DNI.mp3Zac is host of the Project Human podcast, currently on Hiatus, but lots of great guests and thoughtful conversation in previous episodeshttps://www.projecthuman.fm/Gillibrand Amendment: congress.gov/congressional-record/2021/11/04/senate-section/article/S7808-1OUR FUTURE IN SPACE: cathedral.org/event/our-future-in-spaceyoutube.com/watch?v=UWyPk_f8aAAAvril Haines' Comment on UAPs, 32 minutes into the above. Yeah, I mean, I think the bottom line is that we don't understand everything that we're seeing. And that's probably not surprising to anybody in many respects. But it is, it was a report that really, Congress asked us to produce a report that assessed what we saw as the threat, essentially, from unidentified aerial phenomenon. And what our sort of best understanding was of the different reports that we had identified and it stretched over from, I think, 2004, through to 2021, the different reports that you identify, that you indicated 144 of them, and we had different categories, as you said, so one of them was airborne clutter and other was natural, you know, phenomenon. Another was foreign adversaries. A fourth one was related to sort of US government or industry developmental programs. And then the fifth one was "other". And that basically indicated that we were pretty sure we weren't going to be able to characterize every single one of these reports in the various categories that we've identified, because, frankly, we were not able to understand everything about it. And a large portion of that is based on the fact that we don't have a consistent way of reporting this information, we need to integrate, frankly, a lot of data that we get, we need to get better at collecting information that's useful to us from different sensors that are available to us. And we have to deepen our analysis in these areas. And that's something that, you know, frankly, probably also doesn't surprise you in the sense that that's how we typically approach our intelligence work. And the main issues that Congress and others have been concerned about are basically safety of flight concerns and counterintelligence issues. But of course, there's always the question of, is there something else that we simply do not understand that might come extra terrestrial? Extra terrestrially?
How To Identify Stars in a Photo With Astrometry.net or Stellarium Mick West 2021-11-09 | I got a few requests for more detail on how I tracked down the stars in the "Hyperspectral Mothership" video (youtube.com/watch?v=_JSPTYZuNf4) . So here's all the details. Warning: a bit technical. The version of Stellarium I used: stellarium.orgThere's also a web version, which does the same thing, but with a different user interface. stellarium-web.org Astrometery: http://nova.astrometry.net
Hyperspectral Mothership - A Quick Debunk Mick West 2021-11-07 | Just because an expert tells you something is hyperspectral video of an alien mothership dropping off cargo, it does not mean that's probably what it is.
Investigating a UFO that (seems to) Zip Past a Plane Window Mick West 2021-11-05 | This looks at first glance like a motion-blurred object streaking past a plane. But closer examination shows that this cannot be the case as it does not trace a contiguous line. So it's probably fake.Here's the Feb 3 2013 version youtube.com/watch?v=rki8SkbxDHAHOWEVER there's also a Feb 2, 2013 version from a clickbait channel:youtube.com/watch?v=QTmpWKJjazkFound by @ufoofinterest youtube.com/watch?v=FF6PYn4xHksReddit Thread: reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/qlluxf/ufo_flyby_passenger_reaction
Poltergeist Ghost Glass - A Replication Experiment Mick West 2021-11-05 | A glass "mysteriously" glides across a table, live on TV? Ghosts? Of course there really isn't any great mystery here. You can google "glass moves by itself" and you'll find scores of examples and explanations. It's a glass table, so very smooth. Condensation drips down the glass forming a thin layer of water on the table, reducing friction - and a bubble of air can be trapped, which warms and expands, loosening the seal. Then any slight vibration and a very slight slope to the table does the rest. But giving the explanation is one thing, can we duplicate it? I give it a go in my bathroom, with mixed success.
