[extropy-chat] UFO on satellite photo.

Mon Aug 8 05:31:11 UTC 2005

I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to curb a moment of boredom. I did this for fun, perhaps to get you all to smile (thought Spike would like this humor!), and mainly to see if I could reproduce the image, not to speculate one way or another. And, as you have already established, I would never, ever upload to a site where I do not have authorization to do so. Just an incorrigible artist here, but that's all!  :  )

The only way I was able to save the image from Google Maps was to hit the "Print Screen" button, since if you take a look, you can see that there is no right click "save picture" option available (PC users) on their site. I don't know what program they are using but I did notice that they will allow others embedded access of Google maps on their web site using Java Script. So it might be safe to assume that this could be what they are using as well. But JavaScript may just be the "viewer" so to speak of the images, and not the actual format of the images - (for example the standard psd, or jpg format - they/or the satellite people could also be using some proprietary file extension). Anyway, since I saved it as my own generated Prt Sc image (jpg), if there was an original format I did not have access to it. Hypothetically, if I were looking at a psd of an image, I would be able to see all of the layers and figure out how everything works, but if it was a jpg these layers would be compressed and thus the history would be lost. For example the image that I made, while I was making my version(s), I was saving as a psd, and each part had it's separate layer, but when I saved it to a jpg and uploaded it, you wouldn't be able to tell if I did anything to it, unless you were a forensic graphic pro or something (or if I was really bad at it - if I am, don't tell me). But the point is moot, since as I mentioned earlier, the image I used as a base was from my own jpg generated "print screen" save - so I was not able to see or determine anything from the flat replicated image. 

I did notice one thing while making my reproduction, when I looked at the first image mentioned on the list I noticed that the background (the houses and streets etc.) was a little shaky, out of focus, as opposed to the Google Map I sequestered of my neighborhood. This was the only thing that stood out to me, simply because mine was so clear. To make mine look the same I had to blur the whole image a few times before I began (minus the letters in the right bottom and the buttons on the top right). This also helped later when trying to have a natural transition from the real photo to the object I created. 

To create my mysterious object, it was really quite simple. I drew an empty selection circle on a new layer and filled it with a gradient of the same colors on the original object: white, grey and light blue. With Keith's observation in mind, I looked at the direction of the shadows under the trees and houses in the picture and lined my gradient in the same direction, so that it would match. I then applied a bevel contour to the circle so that it appeared a little 3D. Then I blurred it to soften it. The original mystery object looked like it had a slight transparent haze around it. To achieve this effect I simply duplicated my circle, and using the free transform, enlarged it so that it was a little bigger than my first circle, I emptied the center of it (making a halo ring), lowered the opacity quite a bit and added blur to this too. I merged the center of the circle and the surrounding haze into one. Then I positioned it, so that the haze was obviously layered over defined structures, so that it appeared to be hovering. Specifically, semi transparent blur over the houses tricks the eye into thinking the object is floating above them. If I had the same object over that park area (where you see the baseball diamond) there would be no distinctive structure underneath the haze that our eyes would surmise as lower or underneath it. It also doesn't have a lot of distinct color variations to simulate perspective either. That was it!

Honestly this thing could be anything, I'm not up on my satellite engineering, lenses or software - but I could easily imagine that if it wasn't something legit in the air, it could be any number of these things interacting with or leaving an artifact on the photo. 

Here are two super close ups for you:
Original: http://www.nanogirl.com/images/satellitetheirs.jpg
Mine: http://www.nanogirl.com/images/satellitemine.jpg

You can see the original is more blue and you can tell in my pixels that the image has been blurred. 

Gina "Nanogirl" Miller
 http://www.nanogirl.com/museumfuture/index.htm

  From: The Avantguardian 
  To: ExI chat list 
  Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 7:15 PM
  Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] UFO on satellite photo.

  --- Gina Miller <nanogirl at halcyon.com> wrote:

  > Okay here is a zoom in of the object near my house -
  > in which you can really see what is going on:
  > http://www.nanogirl.com/images/satellite2.jpg
  > 
  > Gina Miller
  > www.nanogirl.com 

  Sheesh, Gina. You, my dear, are why nobody trusts
  photographic evidence anymore. ;) This does not bode
  well for justice in a transparent society dependent on
  security cameras. But that is a separate issue. You
  have convincingly shown that it is possible for
  someone to have hacked Google maps, doctored the
  photo, and uploaded it back onto the site. My question
  is this: Since you are really good at doctoring
  photos, can you find any flaws in the original
  photograph that would indicate that it was doctored as
  yours was? Is there any irregularities in the pixels
  or whatever that would suggest this?

  The Avantguardian 
  is 
  Stuart LaForge
  alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

  "The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us." 
  -Bill Watterson

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