comment by OftenBen

a thoughtful web.

Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking. Login or Take a Tour!

comment by OftenBen

OftenBen · 1249 days ago · link · · parent · post: Triangle UFO over Shanghai June 22 2021

kleinbl00 come tell me how this isn't aliens.

kleinbl00 · 1249 days ago · link ·

Right there is absolutely no way a city as provincial and poorly illuminated as Shanghai might have umbras that form a pattern as sophisticated and unique as a (checks notes) triangle.

+discuss+discuss

–

OftenBen · 1249 days ago · link ·

Thanks, now I have a link to someone not me saying it's a shadow on a cloud.

+discuss+discuss

mk · 1249 days ago · link ·

It does look like a shadow cast from something below, not above. However, the moon was 85% waxing gibbous, so it would have been bright and in the sky and a shadow could have been cast the other way.

+discuss+discuss

–

kleinbl00 · 1249 days ago · link ·

Couple things:

1) The moon is an area source of light, not a point source, and as such casts umbra/penumbra shadows. If this were a dark object backlit by the moon, the shadow on the clouds would not be crisp like it is.

2) I have never been to Shanghai but it looks like it tends towards a low marine layer. Uplighting from below is going to be brighter just because of the distance fall-off. If this were Denver? Yeah I could see the argument but I mean