SGHA Research

This information/article is copyright, 2006 by Cody Polston, Bob Carter and SGHA. All rights reserved.
Location: Alfredo's Cafe, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date taken: 26 February 2006
Photographer: C. Polston
M/E/EM fields: None detected
Camera model: Sony MVC-CD 350

 

 SGHA Research ~ Photograph analysis ~ DSC01773

A digital image can be treated as a data set to extract information. This is the information that we extracted from a digital photograph taken during a investigation at Alfredo's Cafe. The photograph was shown to the cafe's owner just after the picture was taken before the investigation was concluded.

Clicking on this image will open the photo in a new window. EXIF data is intact.

EXIF Data

Photo DSC01773
Date and Time 2/26/2006
Exp. Time 6:03:56 PM
F/Stop 1/40
Exp. Program 4.0
Exp. Bias Normal
Metering Mode 0
Light Source Pattern;Unknown
Flash Flash fired
Focal Length auto mode
Focal Length (35 mm) return light detected
ISO Speed 7.1, 160
Orientation Normal
Dimensions 2048 x 1536
Exposure Time 10 / 400
File Size 1127 KB

Infrared Analysis

When an IR pass filter is applied to the photograph, several darker sections appear that are not easily seen in the original photograph.

The darker regions would represent cooler sections within the photograph. The amount of thermal emission from the darker areas are dependant on their size, their emission and their temperature.

Gauging from the temperatures of the surrounding structures, it is estimated that the darker areas of the "cloud" are 10 to 15 degrees cooler than the surrounding ambient air temperature.

It should be noted that the estimate of temperature variance is based solely upon the analysis of the photograph.

A digital image can be treated as a data set to extract information. Each pixel's intensity value is a measure of how much energy was used to generate it within the band of spectrum used to produce the image. The sum of the pixel intensities is a measure of the total energy used to create the whole image.The highest output of energy from the object in the photograph is the lighter "glow" surrounding the darker section in the middle(Figure 2). The Sesmimetric value of the "glow" is estimated at 86.

The simulated spectrum analysis (Figure 3) also confirms the estimate of the radiant energy. The walls also reflect the same amount of energy due to their white color refracting the camera's flash back to the CCD.

Figure 2. Measurement of pixel density (Thumbnailed)

Figure 3. Simulated Spectrum Analysis

When a simulated mid IR bandpass filter (Figure 4) is applied to the photograph, the "glow" almost disappears, indicating that it may be within or near that range. The particle emissions filter (Figure 5) shows particle sources coming from the pail of cleaning rags, a few items on the shelf and the unknown object itself.

Figure 4. Simulated IR bandpass filter applied

Figure 5. Particle emissions filter applied

Additional Information

Figure 6. Surface Plot of photograph

The surface plot of the photograph (figure 6) clearly shows that the strange object in the photograph is 3 dimensional. It is also possible that the object is actually two separate objects that are very close together. The simulated density indicates that the "glow" is similar in composition to a light gas substance.

Hypothesis

The analysis of the photograph indicates that that the unusual object in the photograph is 3 dimensional and is radiating some sort of energy.

Due to the objects shape and density, there are several hypotheses that one can speculate.

The first is that the unusual object is an artifact of a electromagnetic cascade shower that is about to collapse. The photons of the cascade are in the near IR
to mid-IR range. the cascade was initiated near the bottom center of the photo and pushed upwards.

The second hypothesis is that a strong electromagnetic field caused the photons from the camera's flash to bend around the field itself.

Programs used for analysis: Image J , Scanalyze

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