Orb in the sky - Fish River Canyon Namibia

[Anthill Tiger]

Does anyone know what this is? We were traveling South towards the Fish River Canyon in Namibia, I was in the passenger seat of car taking photos with a phone camera and suddenly this ball of light appeared, it started off small and grew to the size in the photo before it disappeared again. The time was around +/- 09h20 / 09h45 am.

[Silver]

It could be ball lightning. It is not always associated with thunderstorms. I was lucky enough to see it in our house on two consecutive nights.Ball lightning - Wikipedia

[the13bats]

Our resident photo expert hasnt been around in a while hope hes okay.

Well now this is a hell of a great picture to have been taken with a phone cam pretty much kills the excuses true believers make for photos always being a blurry grainy mess.

Heres where i tell you i believe you are new here and might not know im a cynical skeptic and to try not to take what i say all too personal.

I have my reasons to believe that isnt a "ball out light" out yonder but rather a reflection of some type or camera artifact, of course you will say the cat window was was down.

You say it grew to the size of the picture, how did you gauge that?

I am curious to see the rest of the pictures of it growing or a shot before it appears and why didnt you switch to video when it started to grow.

Please dont say this is the only image you grabbed of such an amazing experence.

Thanx.

[SecretSanta]

Did you see this ball of light in the sky or just in the photos? 

[Anthill Tiger]

Hi

The ball grew to the size that it is now in the picture, I tried to tap on the video but the ball wasn't there long, a few seconds then it disappeared.

I had rolled the window down to take a few pics quickly as we were entering the canyon, we had been traveling on dirt roads so the windows were a little too dusty. I do have some other interesting photos too (and some taken via trail cameras on the farm). I will put them up soon. I have a series of photos that were captured by the trail camera (the camera was set to take shots every 3 seconds if there is movement) and I can't explain what happened there either..but will put them up in due course for everyone to see and possibly give advice.

[Anthill Tiger]

I was aiming the phone towards the hill, and in the blue sky the light appeared, I was looking through the phone screen at the time. A Samsung S7 phone screen.

[Timothy]

2 hours ago, Anthill Tiger said:

I was aiming the phone towards the hill, and in the blue sky the light appeared, I was looking through the phone screen at the time. A Samsung S7 phone screen.

Is this the only photo you have of this?

Can you please upload the uncompressed photo with EXIF data somewhere for us to look at?

[the13bats]

Im not saying im not dead wrong but i still see something that makes me think this is camera artifact or a reflection rather than a bright object out in the sky.

[Hyperionxvii]

Yes, it's a star at the center of our solar system, mostly known as Sol or the Sun. 

[the13bats]

31 minutes ago, Hyperionxvii said:

Yes, it's a star at the center of our solar system, mostly known as Sol or the Sun. 

A camera phone can take a pic of the sun?

[Buzz_Light_Year]

30 minutes ago, Hyperionxvii said:

Yes, it's a star at the center of our solar system, mostly known as Sol or the Sun. 

Sunlight is coming from the left of the frame indicted by the shadows that the plants and rocks are casting.

Edited June 28, 2022 by Buzz_Light_Year

[Hyperionxvii]

7 minutes ago, the13bats said:

A camera phone can take a pic of the sun?

It can't with some sort of lens filter? 

[Hyperionxvii]

1 minute ago, Buzz_Light_Year said:

Sunlight is coming from the left of the frame indicted by the shadows that the plants and rocks are casting.

Reflection? 

[Hyperionxvii]

It could be the moon? I've seen the moon nearly that bright in the middle of the day before. 

[the13bats]

So i guess im the only one who thinks it looks like a camera artifact or reflectiin,

Plus the photographer says she went to take the pic then it popped up, that rules out sun or moon right?

[Anthill Tiger]

8 hours ago, Timothy said:

Is this the only photo you have of this?

Can you please upload the uncompressed photo with EXIF data somewhere for us to look at?

There is only one photo, I do have original on my laptop that was copied across ( but it's unfortunately not on the old phone anymore, it was some time back).

I would love to upload uncompressed photos with EXIF data for everyone to view more carefully but I'm not very technologically competent, never heard of that term before. I'm going to look it up and see what I can do. I had to screenshot this in order to post it here because the file size was to large. I will revert back as soon as I find out more on how to do that, (hopefully soon). I do have other strange photos that I will put up in due course as well in between work and all the other stuff a person must do in the day.. 

Thank you for the interest...I am inspired because I really feel it's something, it hasn't happened again (not like that). Some friends have also told me that it was the sun but this is not even remotely possible because at that time of the morning driving south from a little town called Keetmanshoop towards the Fish River Canyon in Namibia the sun is on the other side. 

[Anthill Tiger]

12 hours ago, Timothy said:

Is this the only photo you have of this?

Can you please upload the uncompressed photo with EXIF data somewhere for us to look at?

I managed to retrieve the EXIF data from the original photo :-)  I will upload them here in two batches..

[Anthill Tiger]

The second batch of EXIF Data. Let me know what you think. I am looking forward to all your input and advice...

[Buzz_Light_Year]

5 hours ago, Hyperionxvii said:

Reflection? 

She said the windows were down so if it is a reflection it's probably not from inside the car.

The photo looks like it might have a reflection just to the left of the orb and down a bit. Kinda reminds me of what a finger would look like reflecting off the window glass.

From the angle of the shadows it may be a reflection from the vehicle window trim, that is if the trim is reflective or it could be a reflection from light shining on a glass or plastic bottle somewhere out in the landscape.

All guesses.

Spooks more likely....... Or these guys...

 

[P.S]

On 6/27/2022 at 10:51 PM, Anthill Tiger said:

Does anyone know what this is? We were traveling South towards the Fish River Canyon in Namibia, I was in the passenger seat of car taking photos with a phone camera and suddenly this ball of light appeared, it started off small and grew to the size in the photo before it disappeared again. The time was around +/- 09h20 / 09h45 am.

I think you captured a photo of the moon. As another member on here mentioned. I have also seen the moon during day at different parts of my country, once in a while.

[the13bats]

The story doesn't add up.

I sure could be misunderstanding the OP but if she was going to take a pic and the object wasnt there and only popped up after the camera was pointed it rules out sun moon or anything already there.

Im not being mean but i think window was up and it caugh reflections that wouldnt have been there until the camera was pointed perhaps even a led on the phone.

 

[Hyperionxvii]

On 6/28/2022 at 12:39 PM, the13bats said:

So i guess im the only one who thinks it looks like a camera artifact or reflectiin,

Plus the photographer says she went to take the pic then it popped up, that rules out sun or moon right?

A reflection of the sun or moon? Sorry, I'm going to beat that dead horse until it's ready to dig back up and beat some more. 

[the13bats]

12 hours ago, Hyperionxvii said:

A reflection of the sun or moon? Sorry, I'm going to beat that dead horse until it's ready to dig back up and beat some more. 

I dont care what its a reflection of i just do not think this happened as the witness claimed it did not saying deliberate ruse as memory can fail.

[Hyperionxvii]

14 hours ago, the13bats said:

I dont care what its a reflection of i just do not think this happened as the witness claimed it did not saying deliberate ruse as memory can fail.

Well, anyone who has taken a lot of photos under different light conditions, knows that you occasionally get all sorts of artifacts. 

[the13bats]

On 7/1/2022 at 9:36 PM, Hyperionxvii said:

Well, anyone who has taken a lot of photos under different light conditions, knows that you occasionally get all sorts of artifacts. 

Yep, but we still have countless photographers who claim every orb is a ghost.