Sunchaser Pictures went out starchasing for "Death Valley Dreamlapse," and the results are pretty spectacular. Plus, a UFO! Maybe!

DEATH VALLEY DREAMLAPSE from Sunchaser Pictures on Vimeo.

A few hardworking filmmakers from indie film company Sunchaser Pictures trekked out to Death Valley's remote Eureka Dunes during the Geminid Meteor Shower peak in mid-December, and the result is some truly wonderous starporn.

The 3-minute timelapse (shot with two DSLRs and complete with Moby soundtrack) condenses every 50 minutes into every 5 seconds of video. It captures a pretty stunning view of the rotation of the night sky, absent the usual pest of light pollution. And then, amid the meteors, a zig-zagging Unidentified Flying Object.

The filmmaker, Gavin Heffernan, explains his confusion in the video's description: "The "UFO" appears at (1:30-1:35) and makes three broad circular sweeps over the desert…There was no sound, so it definitely wasn't a helicopter."

Lesson learned: Freeze your butt off in the middle of the desert for a night and you'll be rewarded with great celestial views -- and maybe a newfound belief in alien sightings.

17 Comments

Looks like it happens again at 2:01 as well.

@linksrd008

I think it's the same one, they just blend all the frames from the earlier video.

If it's unidentified, then yes, yes it is a UFO.

Probably just an airplane circling, preparing to land.

Not sure what to say about the ufo, but that video is beautiful.They did a very nice job.

It's a plane. There are airports and airways in that area.

Unless the observer can say with 100% certainty they know what all the objects are in the sky, they are all UFOs, lol.

Funny video!

Yes, they are aircraft on a "procedure turn".
google the phrase, then click images and you'll see what it is about.

j cherry
Air Transport Pilot

Perhaps Van Gogh might also enjoy this video....

Well, unless you know exactly what the craft is, it has to ba a UFO. I think there a growing generation who does not know that UFO stands for; Unidentified Flying Object. It does not solely stand for; a space craft from another planet. With all that the military has going on in secret, for obvious reason, it is perfectly clear that at any given time there are going to be "objects"that will be seen. The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a single-seat, twin-engine stealth ground-attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). Its first flight was in 1981, and it achieved initial operating capability status in October 1983. The F-117 was "acknowledged" and revealed to the world in November 1988. I was at an air show at Cherry Point Naval Air Station about 8 years ago. The F-117 had just flown a few passes and was taxied over to a viewing area. While we were standing there a lady was taking picture of the rear of the aircraft and 6-7 marines pointed there M-16's at her with their fingers on the triggers. There was chaos and screaming as they rushed her yelling for her to lay on the ground and give the camera to them. I think about half the people there soiled them selves, it was a close call for me and a friend. After a short period of time they brought roping and post to ring around the F-117. On the post it said that you could not take pictures of the rear of the aircraft. I asked one of the marines there why they were being so secretive about the rear and he said that it was because of the thrust nozzles and how the thrust exits the vehicle, and how it remained in stealth even then. I said, but there are pictures all over the internet of all angles and all phases of flight. Then I questioned why they even brought it out for viewing if it was that much of a secret, given that there were people all over the place with high powered zoom lens cameras. There must have been over 20,000 people there. I know I saw hundreds of people taking pictures of it as it took off. He had no answer. That being said, the Air Force retired the F-117 on 22 April 2008. They are very secretive of their stuff. So it is easy to see how they might have something in that sky that they are going to deny, it's just easier for them to deny it. The one shot that appears late in the video appears to be using pulse jet engine or something much newer. As for the triple circular passes with no sound, I have viewed numerous aircraft flying that made no apparent sound. especially at higher altitudes. At night it is very hard to determine the altitude of a "object" flying in the dark sky. Do I believe their are craft that could fly to our planet, seems entirely possible to me. However, here is the tongue in cheek part, I seriously doubt it, given that their technology would have to far exceed ours to accomplish it. Some say that we were visited many times in ancient days, that is how we built the pyramids, right? Why then would they continue trips here given what we have do to the place. Wait I know, they bring sight seeing craft here to laugh at us and mock our crude neanderthalian technologies(compared to their own). Definition of NEANDERTHALIAN. : belonging or relating to Neanderthal man.I just put that in there for those who think it not a word.

marvinisit,
.... hence the source of my first comment, "UFO stands for; Unidentified Flying Object", yup yup.

It could be someone from the nearby airport doing night flying training. That would be my first guess -- and easy enough to confirm by calling the local flight schools or perhaps the airport tower, if they keep track of such things.

What? There are things in our skies that can't be explained? This is very troubling. We need our government to get busy and make sure that these kinds of things are quickly shouted down... kicked to the curb, tossed under the bus, even.

What would happen if the world woke one day to the reality that it wasn't all that special? What if we weren't alone?

O.M.G.

(LOL)

The virtue and perfection of cynicism is that you are rarely if ever wrong and never at all disappointed if you are.

The closeup photo makes it clear that it's a plane: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50014474@N05/8397701034

ROBOT YOU SON OF A GUN! You used ellipses! You even used one at the end of a sentence...you and I are now one person...in fact by that logic I've been hating on myself this entire time...yes that is it, nothing about that logic seems flawed. I love this! Thinking like a moron is fun I wish farout fegget showed me the truth so long ago....


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