'UFO' in police video excites alien fans despite not being a UFO
We've identified this not-flying not-object.
The Twitter feed for the Broome Police in Australia is full of photos of confiscated alcohol and stolen bikes that need to be reunited with their owners. And, oh yes, there's one "UFO."
The Western Australian Police Force shared some CCTV footage on Twitter and Facebook this week of the town beach during a nighttime storm.
After reviewing CCTV at town beach of last nights storm, it appears we were not alone 🔭🛸🛸🛸🛸 pic.twitter.com/Efh6SuPX7S
— Broome Police (@BroomePol) February 17, 2019
The video shows part of a parking lot, a tree, some bright flashes of lightning and a strange apparition that looks like a glowing triangle inside of a circle. The whole formation appears to fly off the corner of the screen.
"After reviewing CCTV at town beach of last night's storm, it appears we were not alone," the Broome Police said, posting a series of UFO emojis along with the message. The emojis appear to be a joke, but some UFO fans are treating the sight as a real UFO in online forums. "At first seeing the disk, I had doubts, but when this object lit up with a triangle within it ... I knew it was 100 percent real," prominent UFO enthusiast Scott Waring wrote on his sightings blog.
The most likely explanation for the bizarre sky specter is something director J.J. Abrams would appreciate: lens flare. If you look closely at the video, you'll see a vehicle backing up in the lower right-hand corner. Its movements coincide with the glowing formation.
UFO-debunking Twitter account ufoofinterest.org offers up a nice explanation in GIF form by pointing out the connection between the lens flare and the reversing lights.
Nice optical effect. Of course it's just a typical lens flare caused by that vehicle's reversing light. pic.twitter.com/mzydDmnMo0
— ufoofinterest.org (@ufoofinterest) February 18, 2019
The Broome Police have since gone back to tweeting bicycle photos, but the UFO tweet continues to draw attention. Let's just enjoy it for what it is: a cool optical effect and not a sign of alien visitation.
