White Orb Shows Up in Nighttime Photos Taken With Wild Game Camera

Photo of Orb Near Deer in Top Photo
 (Bottom Photo Taken About 2 Minutes Later Shows Orb Was Moving to Left)
(Later Photos Show That Orb Moved Back to the Right)
 

Date of Sighting: March 17, 2006
Time of Sighting: 12:44:09AM to 12:48:50 AM CST
Date Reported: March 19, 2006
Duration of Sighting: 4 Seconds
Location of Sighting: Between Poplarville and Baxterville, Mississippi
(Southern Mississippi About 38 Miles From Gulf Coast)
Latitude:  30.97 Degrees North (Estimated)
Longitude: 89.48 Degrees West (Estimated)
Number of Witnesses: One (Orb Only Seen With Camera)
Weather: Low Overcast.  Cloud Bases 1,700 Feet. Visibility 10 Miles.

Description (In Witness's Own Words):  Pictures were taken in the middle of the woods at Turkey Trot Hunting Club located between Poplarville and Baxterville, MS.  This was not actually an in person sighting. Photos were taken by a wild game camera that was set up on a hunting food plot. There were six photos all taken during an 8 minute period. There was a small round white ball of light with what looks like a beam running diagonally through it from the sky to the ground. Each photo shows the object in a different location.

Analysis of Photo by Photo Investigator: I examined this orb photo by inverting the image and histogram stretching. Let me know if you have a less compressed version of this photo available. Inverting dark low contrast photos is common in astrophotography in order to resolve details that are otherwise not visible. What's interesting is the faint luminous streak that seems to be connected with the orb and has the same width. Here are some explanations:

1. The object is of a light refraction anomaly due to a light source just above the photo. The light streak is not centralized suggesting it's not a camera anomaly; however, if the image had been cropped, this visual effect can be created.

2 . The orb is a hoax created by placing a bead on a wire or string and passing it in front of the camera in close proximity thus causing a blurred effect of the string and object suspended in front.

3. The object was moving at tremendous speed and halted velocity the instant the photo was taken, thus leaving an image smear due to the motion. This would be unlikely as the faint luminous streak is also present in the second orb photo.

My gut feeling is this is not authentic; it's some sort of unusual camera/light anomaly, or it is a hoax.

(Note: The witness has contacted us again and said that there were no light or power sources near the camera where the orb was photographed.  Therefore this makes it unlikely that a conventional light source created the orb.)

Investigator's Notes: I first thought that the orb in these photos was due to a spot on the camera lens (e.g. dew) or a reflection.  Given that the position of the orb changed in each of the four photos and that the camera was stationary, leads me to exclude both of the above explanations.  (Only two of the photos are displayed in this report.) The witness did not know the make and model of the camera used to take the photos, but confirmed that it was a high resolution digital camera and was in "night-shot" (infrared) mode when the photos were taken.  The photo analysis above and additional information provided by witness still leave a lot of unanswered questions about these photos.  At this time no explanation can be given.