32 replies to this topic

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

Jackofalltrades, on 10 February 2013 - 01:31 AM, said:

America uses the format....   MM/DD/YEAR  not the format  DD/MM/YEAR

more proof that it is indeed a backwards place, the Mother Country should reassert itself there to improve their diction, grammar and spelling.

[MedicTJ]

Robbo, on 09 February 2013 - 08:50 PM, said:

Yes, in fact everything that NASA tries to tell us is false - everything is an alien. Your statement is like saying "If you don't believe this then you're an idiot...you're not an idiot are you"

I'm tired of people seeing something allegedly in space and crying alien. It's not a UFO. I'm not an idiot, I'm not a religious fanatic. I am however sceptical, because that is human nature. Maybe if you look hard enough in the video you can see the illuminati creating the new world order while secretly plotting to poison us via chem-trails.

Can you explain the objects in the video?  For the record, I don't think those objects are signs of otherworldly intelligent life.

I'm simply asking.  Can you explain what those objects are?

[synchronomy]

Wearer of Hats, on 10 February 2013 - 01:54 AM, said:

more proof that it is indeed a backwards place, the Mother Country should reassert itself there to improve their diction, grammar and spelling.

The ISO standard is yyyy-mm-dd. The four digits for year was to overcome the y2k problem. The mm-dd just makes sense since everyone uses hh:mm:ss for the time...hence big things to little things gives the full format as YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS.  That way there's no confusion.
And as far as the topic is concerned, those anomalies in the SOHO images are not ET spaceships.

[coolguy]

Could be ufos.

[Sakari]

Purple Kool Aid anyone?

[Colonel Rhuairidh]

Jackofalltrades, on 09 February 2013 - 10:47 PM, said:

I think You will find it is February the 6th 2013, and not the 2nd of June 2013...

I think the seemed to have been missed there.

[Chrlzs]

Elq, on 09 February 2013 - 08:30 PM, said:

These objects have a material structure. Attention skeptics, religious fanatics and those who believe the tales NASA! Objects shown in the video are the real origin! This is not interference in the satellite, not broken pixels, not meteorites, not the solar particles and other qualifications that tries to convince NASA.

Via, http://quasi-mundo.c...ebruary-6-2013/

The guy seems very certain in his statements. I don't really know the answer but it looks strange enough

Quasi-Mundo, hey?  I must file this one next to the Daily Fail..

Anyway, for anyone genuinely interested in this, be ready for a fairly involved explanation.  There is a lot to these images.  As that video author would have known if he'd got off his lazy backside and learnt about the images he is disparaging out of ignorance..  So, are you ready?

First up, that video MUST have been posted by someone completely unfamiliar with the SOHO/STEREO spacecraft and their systems (I'm not having a shot at you, OP, I'm referring to the tinfoilhatter who made the video).  For if they had been watching these images for a while, they would have noticed a coupla things and taken the time to find out why...

These images are VERY, VERY obviously low-resolution images showing jpeg compression block artefacts.  And that is EXACTLY how STEREO works.  First up it throws small thumbnail images (called 'Beacon-mode' images) back to NASA so they can immediately show them - that way they give the public a first look at everything, almost as it happens - the best sort of early warning system, if you like.  NASA (perhaps offering inadvertent fodder to conspiracy theorists) enlarges them a lot, which not only emphasises any splodges (like sungrazers or HEP's  or CR's - anyone familiar with SOHO will know what those are, but feel free to ask..!) and it also makes the jpeg block effects more obvious.

Now while Joe Public looks at these rapidly sent thumbnails (and a few yell "The Sky Is Falling"), the spacecraft is downloading the full size files (in a .FTS format).  As soon as those files arrive they are immediately available to experimenters and researchers - I can chase up the links if anyone wants, but I have to tell you, that processing FTS files is not all that simple - they are designed for high level scientific analysis.  Anyway, once the FTS files arrive, NASA scientists/computers do a calibration process from what are essentially dark-frame files from the previous camera calibration performed by the spacecraft (usually within a week or so beforehand) and then also from the NEXT calibration test - again that could be a week in the future.  They do this so they can get the very best possible results out of the files - this camera and its sensor are in a very harsh environment and it is changing over time.  So, anytime from a week or so to a couple of weeks later, the low-resolution, blocky images will vanish, and they will be replaced by the best resolution versions that NASA can generate - I'll be happy to explain how to find the high-res versions, if anyone wants to quote a low-res one that has vanished..  If you are worried - save the low-res images as they will vanish, it's how the Stereo system works.

Now at this point, the tinfoilhatter will scream "FOUL!!", because omigod, suddenly the low-res 'beacon' file has vanished..  But if he took the time to check the new replacement file, he will see where the blocky artefacts came from and what the real image looks like.  You can overlay them and see how it works.  It's a pretty fancy system, but maybe it's a little too hard for Joe Tinfoil to understand.  Anyway, I need to back all this up, so first, here's the NASA link discussing this - it's been there for years, they've been doing this for years..

Somewhere hereabouts I've got an example image that shows the low-res beacon image overlaid with the new high-res version so you can see exactly how the artefacts correspond to genuine image details, and what caused them..  I'll dig it up and post it later..  Or if someone has a favorite low-res image, please post it here along with the date - but make sure you do so quickly, as it will vanish as soon as the high-res image appears in its place..

Finally, I didn't watch the entire video (slow connection), so if I've missed anything, let me know..

[Chrlzs]

Here's that image I made up when this first came up on another forum, showing exactly what I mean.

At the left you will see two crops showing the alleged UFO's - they were taken from different areas of a single low-res 'beacon' image dating back to 2010 - the blown up thumbnail that Stereo sends initially. In the middle column you can see the same areas from the HIGH-RESOLUTION file (which was posted by NASA about a week later after the calibrations and processing).  Look at the corresponding areas and you can see that the blocky shapes in the leftmost images are simply caused by the way that JPEG compression creates artefacts around contrasty details, especially when combined with lots of enlargement and too much sharpening and contrast enhancement.  That 'stuff' - which can also be seen elsewhere in the image - is clearly not real image detail.  The last column simply shows the two images overlaid, so you can see the actual 'things' that cause the 'ufo's.  In this case, the 'things' are either sungrazing comets getting 'swallowed', or High Energy Particles or Cosmic Rays hitting the sensor (I'd have to go back and look at surrounding images to check on which are which, don't have time right now).

So now you know what HEP and CR stand for..   Any questions?  This is a topic I know pretty well - I'm a Stereo and Soho fan!

Edited by Chrlzs, 10 February 2013 - 12:01 PM.

[Hazzard]

I know its not as interesting and cool as some people speculations here but, I was just about to say - camera artifact -  like the link said,...

NASA responded that these UFOs – a speck of dust on the lens or broken pixels on the sensor lens.




Edd: Good post Chrlzs.

Edited by Hazzard, 10 February 2013 - 12:47 PM.

[Zaphod222]

I think the English on the "quasi mundo" conspiracy site is cute. Kind of reminds me of Nigerian scammer poetry, LOL

[R4z3rsPar4d0x]

Well Chrizs settled that, thanks Chrizs

[DONTEATUS]

Chrlzs, on 10 February 2013 - 11:50 AM, said:

Here's that image I made up when this first came up on another forum, showing exactly what I mean.

At the left you will see two crops showing the alleged UFO's - they were taken from different areas of a single low-res 'beacon' image dating back to 2010 - the blown up thumbnail that Stereo sends initially. In the middle column you can see the same areas from the HIGH-RESOLUTION file (which was posted by NASA about a week later after the calibrations and processing).  Look at the corresponding areas and you can see that the blocky shapes in the leftmost images are simply caused by the way that JPEG compression creates artefacts around contrasty details, especially when combined with lots of enlargement and too much sharpening and contrast enhancement.  That 'stuff' - which can also be seen elsewhere in the image - is clearly not real image detail.  The last column simply shows the two images overlaid, so you can see the actual 'things' that cause the 'ufo's.  In this case, the 'things' are either sungrazing comets getting 'swallowed', or High Energy Particles or Cosmic Rays hitting the sensor (I'd have to go back and look at surrounding images to check on which are which, don't have time right now).

So now you know what HEP and CR stand for..   Any questions?  This is a topic I know pretty well - I'm a Stereo and Soho fan!

Yes thanks Chrizs its always good to read your post ! And we can now rule out the FTL ships snuggling up to the Sun for a Refuel !  Dang it !

[Chrlzs]

My pleasure!  If anyone has a specific low-res Stereo image that they would like to investigate, please feel free to post it here (along with all the date and time data, which is embedded in the image and filename) and I'll happily show more science at work, and even point out exactly why the strange dark areas appear around the little bright specks, and why they often form those straight edged / symmetrical patterns.  It's all about how jpeg compression works.

FTR, I've never worked at NASA, they don't pay me anything, and I also have a love-hate relationship with them.  I love/d Apollo (and Mercury, Gemini), Explorer, Voyager, Pioneer, SOHO / Stereo, Spirit/Opportunity/Curiosity, LRO.. but hated Skylab and the Shuttle program, was mortified by the rank stupidity that caused Hubble to be such a myopic telescope initially, but loved it after it was fixed, and am pretty neutral about ISS (love watching it pass overhead at night though!).  I also think some of their decisions, like the one to enlarge and over-process these Stereo low-resolution images so much, are feeding conspiracy theorists.

I confess I sometimes wonder if they do some of it just to have a laugh at what the CT brigade can come up with next..

[Chrlzs]

BTW, there's an interesting aside to all this.

Did you know that the Stereo beacon images are broadcast back to earth in a way that anyone with a reasonable-sized receiver can simply pick them up.  They are not highly encrypted - just ask NASA for the spec's and you too could be looking at these low-resolution images AS THEY ARRIVE..

Think about that - NASA cannot possibly control those images!  So that network of universities and amateurs across the globe may be the very first to see the arriving fleet of Romulans!

Sadly, it's not quite as easy to get the high-resolution data directly - that has to be beamed down at much higher rates and via a very narrow comm's beam - it really requires a Deep Space type receiving station or array.  However, as soon as they arrive you can get access to those FTS files I referred to earlier.  I used to do this for interest - sadly, never discovered an incoming spacecraft...

You'd probably be quite surprised just how much of what NASA does is open to anyone to intercept or just get access to - many voluntary organisations gather and process the data from NASA spacecraft - eg there is a HUGE lunar mapping program underway as we speak using LRO (and other) mapping data.  Look up Cosmoquest (yeah it's a naff name..).

[Hazzard]

Good information, Chrlzs,...  If for nothing else, that should put a stop to these silly conspiracy theories, right?