East Coast Park UFO Analysis
An extraterrestrial flying saucer, a crytozoological rod, or a flying insect?


Left: a real UFO image photographed by a SPI member at East Coast Park, Singapore
Right: Right: a classical UFO photo shown here as a reference

On 16 June 2008, 6:50am, a SPI member photographed an alleged Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) over the sky of East Coast Park.

Tham Kun Yao, a 19 years old polytechnic student, when doing a school project has accidentally taken down this UFO without knowing it on the spot.

Kun Yao told SPI, "I was at the seaside standing next to the 'No Signboard' signage. I was actually trying to take some photos of lighting in the early morning for my school project. Nearly 300 shots were taken; each time with my Canon EOS-40D at high-speed continuous multiple shots at 6.5 frames per second."

Kun Yao continued, "When I reached home and reviewed the photos, out of the 300 shots I found two photos that have the lighting on. But to my great surprise, there are six photos that show something else. I do not know what it is so I took a very close-up at the photos. That was just a faint grey color line over the backdrop of the clouds. And comparing with the others from the collection of six photos, you can see that it was moving at an extremely high speed. What amazed me most is the last photo, that the grey line revealed itself into a shape of a classical flying saucer."

"By the sequence numbers of the photos, I estimated that the UFO appeared just 5.64 seconds before the lightening came. I tried to create an outline of the UFO image; it indeed looks like a flying saucer. Very certainly there was nobody and nothing except the sea in front of me. I ruled out the possibility that this flying saucer is one of those in the playing of a beach game."

"In fact, this image cannot be seen at all by naked eyes. My friends who were with me also saying never see any UFO. Particularly, we were staring hard at the sky expecting lighting to come. What is it then? UFO spotted in East Coast Park? We are all very puzzled about this mystery. So I contacted Kenny Fong, the founder of SPI to investigate the photos for an answer on the next day."


The UFO Photos

The photos were taken at multiple blasts at 1/25 second exposure rate. ISO speed ratings at 400. Aperture value Av=6.0 apex (f/8.0). Shutter speed at Tv=4.6 apex (0.040526 sec). photo taken time was 2008:06:16 06:50:25. The EXIF data reveals that the photos are authentic, never been doctored by Photoshop before.

The six photos were superimposed into one, in order to show the flight path


Left: Close up from the last image. Right: Outline the edge

Observation from the Photos

Observation (1). It indeed moves at an extremely fast speed, probably at 5040km/hr.

The estimation:

Distance traveled = 7 x length of an average cargo ship as estimated from the flight path in the photos

Time = 6 photos taken at 6.5fps at high-speed continuous shooting (burst rate) = 6 x (1/6.5) second = approx 0.92 second

Length of an average cargo vessel approx = 140m
Example: http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/11795146/Multi_Purpose_Carrier.html

Speed = 7 x 140m / 0.94 seconds = 1.042Km per second = 3751Km/hr

Average domestic flight (e.g. SIA Boeing777 plane) cruises at 800Km/hr

So something flying at 5 times faster than a normal airplane is quite unimaginable!

Only maybe the US Raptor F-22 can do that, but it will generate a very loud roar when it flies across the sky.

Unmaned flying aircraft cannot reach such a high speed.

Observation (2). The UFO was climbing up to the sky We observed from the flight path that the object was inclining, (climbing up).

Very rare will a normal airplane do this at such incredible speed for safety sake. Some more it seems to climb from low attitude just near the surface of the sea. It was not an airport runway, and not even a land.

Then what is that UFO?

Observation (3). We found that the flying saucer object has no reflection by the sunlight Notice that from the last photo of the six (as shown below), the saucer has an even texture but some outlines of shades when enlarged. The sun light as seen in the photo is from the right to left. You can see the clouds that have patches of lights and shades. The saucer also has this pattern. The bottom is darker than the top, and the tail is lighter than the head.

Left side is darker, the right side is lighter. It tallies with the direction of light source

What does it mean? This observation shows the saucer is a physical object that reflects light and fits into the current atmosphere setting - it is a real existence instead of optical illusion.

Observation (4). There is a little airplane in the center of the photo

The airplane image exists across all the six photos. One can see it has the tail wings and main wing. It looks like a small to medium plane. The position has moved very little that shows it is traveling at normal speed. This observation tells two things. One is the flight path of the UFO is near to the flight path of a domestic plane. The other one, more importantly, tells us that the UFO is not one of those domestic planes.

Left: the UFO, Right: a domestic plane; Notice the difference of shape?


The positions of the UFO and the plane. They both are flying at the same direction

So What is That UFO?

The high-speed at which the UFO is traveling is based on the assumption that it is far away from the observer. At least it is as far as the cargo in the center was. We all know that it is a relativity between speed and distance of observation - that is, the further away the object is, the slower it seems to move (e.g. compare the distances between Earth and star, Earth and our moon).

That means if the UFO was flying just a short distance away from us, the estimation of the speed will have to be compromised. We cannot eliminate the possibility that the UFO is something very small but flying at a close distance away from the observer, and it is flying at some normal speed (e.g. like the speed of an insect).

As follow, we analyse the possibilities of what probably will the UFO be; in the process we reason and eliminate the unlikely possibilities.

Besides a theory that UFO is a flying craft driven by an extraterrestrial creature from outer space, quite often it may be something natural being taken as supernatural.


Possibilities of the UFO

Put aside the possibility that the UFO is something from the outer space, it could be an earthly object which is not very common to layman; hence it was mistakenly stereotyped to be a paranormal phenomenon. Hot-air balloon?

This photo shows a weather balloon as a reference

Base on the location where it was sighted in the East Coast, what appeared to be a UFO, could be a meteorological device owned by the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) which is located at Changi Airport T2. Those who live at the East side of Singapore, occasionally, should be able to see that "object".

My former house that has a balcony area faced towards that direction, when I lived at Modena condo in Simei overlooking Singapore Expo, always allowed me to take a glimpse of the plane landing at Changi airport. Sometimes early in the morning at dawn, I could see the weather meteorological device in the dark sky. In this morning, a bright white stationary object was rising high in the sky. Then for the next three days, the device can be seen high up in the sky at the same spot at around 6am in the morning.

From the photos where the UFO was taken, we noted that the area is also the aircraft landing zone, it is quite impossible that the airport authority did not notice it on their radar and choose to ignore it as well.

SPI then decided to write to MSD for an answer. They replied.

According to MSD, they would launch the weather balloons twice per day at two different locations in Singapore. From the timings as feedback from MSD, the launching time at 0600 and 1835hrs, one of them roughly fit the timing where Tham took the photo at 6:50am. MSD said that he balloons which will be launched at this timing are usually attached to a lantern to facilitate the traceability by the ground staff.

Comparing with the UFO image caught by Tham, it does not look exactly like a balloon let alone it was an illuminating lantern.

It however could be possible that it was a loose strayed balloon, by accident, being photographed when it was being carried up by the wind. Can this possibility be ruled out?

Satellite?

SPI was told by MSD also that usually there are two satellites that they always use; namely the Polar Orbiting and the Geostationary satellites respectively providing forecast to MSD. The Geostationary is providing constant hourly information to MSD, while the Polar Orbiting is providing info only when it passes by this region.

Now the question is whether these satellites can be seen by naked eyes? And if yes, what time and at which location can they be seen?

When these questions were put across to MSD, we got the answers as below:

1. The weather balloon will reaches a height of 55000 feet after launched; as such it would be unlikely to be seen by then. But it would be possible to be seen in the process of rising up to the sky.

2. The two satellites which were mentioned earlier will be located well above at the height of 700 kms, as such they are also unlikely to be seen.

Flying insect?

According to Tham's description, there was absolutely nothing or nobody in front of him when the photos were taken. However, above the sea there could be flying insects in the air which may not be visible by naked eyes. So could it be that an insect when flying at high speed may look distorted and resembles a flying saucer?

Possible. Insects do hovering above water, like dragonflies, and other beetles for example. Tham did not hear any sound; so it was not something huge that generates loud noise like a flying plan, it could be a small insect. The insect would be captured on camera from a short distance. Relatively if the object (insect) was flying only within a few meters or less away from the camera, it is possible for it to fly across the view of vision which may be only several meters in a time of a second duration.

It is also known that when an insect is flying in motion, its image captured on camera would be distorted. This distorted image may resemble the shape of a flying saucer by chance.

Rod?

In paranormal belief, rods are strange objects which are organic and moving at very high speed. In other words, rods are living creatures and not just some new form of flying saucer. Some people have suggested that they maybe a form of extraterrestrial life-form because they are occasionally encountered with UFO activity. Some skeptics would have us believe that what we are seeing is nothing more than birds, insects or camera trickery, but as you can see from the film footage on this page, this does not seem to be a conclusive explanation.

Despite the difference of opinion on the nature of rods, close examination of the video footage has uncovered a number of consistent features. Analysis reveals that the rods seem to be cylinder-shaped 'creatures' that range in length from about 10 centimeters to 3 meters, and can travel at speeds of up to 300 kmph. They appear to fly through the air by using an undulating solid membrane which vibrates extremely rapidly on each side of its body (similar to how a squid propels itself through water).

Because of the speed that they move, it can be difficult to capture rods on film. Even with 30 frames per second (fps), good video cameras still have problems capturing detailed pictures of rods. With rods moving up to speeds of 300 kmph, the video is only capable of capturing a few frames of footage before they disappear. Also, because of the fast movement, the video images of rods generally lack resolution, meaning that it is hard to see fine details, such as if these 'creatures' possess eyes or even a head.

Biologist Ken Swartz has been investigating the rods phenomenon since 1998 and says 'Rods appear to be biological, but without a physical specimen it is difficult to say anything conclusively. They seem to be amphibious, as they have been seen entering and leaving water. Perhaps they are born in the sea and emerge into the air?' Speculating from the eyewitness testimony of people who have seen them, Swartz maintains that they appear to have some similarities to the family of creatures known as cephalopods, such as squids. 'There have been descriptions of them expanding like a balloon and rapidly deflating,' he states 'so they could be using a mechanism similar to a squid which sucks in water and jets it out for propulsion.'

If rods are biological entities, why has no one, so far, found the body of a dead rod? If they are flying around us all the time as is commonly believed, then how is it possible that not a single body has been discovered on the ground? Swartz explains that if the rods are indeed similar to squid, they will not have any hard body parts and so could decompose without a trace. Swartz points out 'If you look at the fossil record, there is only one creature that ever lived that had the rod mode of locomotion, and this was the dominant predator of the time called anamalocaris, which lived in the sea during the Cambrian evolutionary expansion 400 million years ago.' According to Swartz 'the creature propelled itself by a row of plates or fins that vibrated in a similar manner to the membranes seen on rods, it is possible that anamalocaris is the evolutionary ancestor of rods.'

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_(cryptozoology)
http://tech.sina.com.cn/d/2006-01-23/2211827624.shtml <-- if you can read Chinese
http://www.ghost-story.co.uk/stories/flyingrods.html
http://kspark.kaist.ac.kr/Rod/rods.htm <-- interesting animation

Left: Photo of Tham (the SPI member who captured the UFO photos) Right: Photo of Kenny (who analysed the UFO photos)

It could be an UFO flying saucer from the outer space as it doesn't fit into a category of any known flying crafts. Singapore had been a busy sea port throughout the history, who knows this may attract the attention of the extraterrestrials to visit us. From the photos, especially the last one of the six, it looks indeed a shape of a classical UFO flyinger saucer. The speed that traveled across the sky was incredibly fast. It should be a UFO or flying rod, surely a paranormal phenomenon. Seeing is believing, look at the last photo which shows a saucer shape tells everything.

From the anlaysis of the photos, factors like satellite, bird, weather balloon, and domestic planes were eliminated. Strong indication to a flying rod is garnered from the reasonings. So is it really a flying rod with the nature of paranormal or cryptozoology? Taken a skeptics view, the photo looks like merely a flying insect caught on video.

The phenomenon of "rods", was said to be the products of some hoaxers or very imaginative people who advocate that rods are actually an unknown life form of alien origin. But according to Doug Yangega of the Entomology Department at the University of California at Riverside and a member of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board, rods are:

a videographic artifacts based on the frame capture rate of the videocam versus the wingbeat frequency of the insects. Essentially what you see is several wingbeat cycles of the insect on each frame of the video, creating the illusion of a "rod" which bulges along its lenght. The blurred body of the insect as it moves forward forms the "rod", and the oscillation of the wings up and down form the bulges. Anyone with a video camera can duplicate the effect, if you shoot enough footages of flying insects from the right distance.

Here are more skeptics views of "rods":
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mrodhoax.html

Here is one photo taken here, which is very similar to the UFO (from the photos 1 - 5) as shown belowfrom Tham's photos.
http://paranormal.about.com/library/bl_flying_rod_lg.htm

The UFO image as enlarged from Photos 1 to 6
Amazingly you can see how it changes its shape, probably it was making a turn?
Or we have got a Transformer Rod??

Some more debunks of flying rods or skyfish is here:
http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa051302a.htm
http://www.amsky.com/ufos/rods/index.html
http://www.flyingrods.com/articlesfl/index.asp
http://www.flyingrods.com/galleryfl/index.asp (a wonderful gallery of rods images)

What view is yours in this case? Welcome to share you opinion here.

Captured something strange? Report to SPI for analysis at here.



On-going Case