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Subscribe to RSSActor Russell Crowe says these time-lapse photos were captured outside his office.
Did Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe really capture photos of a UFO outside his office in Australia, passing over Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens? Or was it just a sailboat passing by?
In a series of Twitter updates, Crowe — who won the best-actor Oscar for his role in "Gladiator" and recently starred in another Oscar-nominated film, "Les Miserables" — insists that the pictures are real and that they don't show reflections or lens flare. What the YouTube video does show is a series of three timed-exposure photos, with a flat red light moving across the frame.
Crowe said the pictures were taken by a camera (a Canon 5D with no flash, to be precise) that was set up on the balcony of his office in the Sydney suburb of Woolloomooloo to capture pictures of fruit bats rising from the gardens. "This was a big surprise," Crowe wrote.
Some commenters quickly speculated that the UFO was nothing more than reflections from a light, perhaps from a beacon on a sailboat that was passing through nearby Woolloomooloo Bay. But Crowe defended the sighting: "The camera is on a balcony, not behind glass," he told one questioner. "Can't be a lens flare because it moves, camera is fixed," he said in another tweet.
Unless Crowe 'fesses up to a publicity stunt, or accepts one of the alternate explanations offered by skeptics, this sighting is likely to go into a big thick folder of unsolved celebrity UFO files. The conversation also rates a place among Crowe's most entertaining tweets. For what it's worth, here's another one from the Twitter files: "Due to a hangover of massive proportions ... anything I say on Leno tonight needs to be taken with a pinch of salt ... and a slice of lime."
I'll drink to that.
Update for 8 p.m. ET March 6: Facebook friend Tom Jorgenson came up with what seems to be the best explanation for the red light: It's reflected sunlight from a plane passing across the scene near sunset. You can make out what appears to be the outline of the plane's fuselage and tail. The exposure setting may have made the time-lapse pictures look more dramatic. To confirm that hypothesis, you'd have to check the time for the photo-taking session (at sunset) and the orientation of the camera (pointing to reflect the sun's rays into the camera lens). But I think we have a winner. What do you think?
Update for 12:13 a.m. ET March 7: OK, here's a much better explanation. ParaBreakdown's Phil Poling shows why Russell Crowe's UFO is most likely to be a series of long-exposure photos of an Unidentified Floating Object ... which now appears to have been identified. The YouTube video below breaks it down:
ParaBreakdown's Phil Poling provides an explanation for Russell Crowe's UFO sighting.
More from Cosmic Log's UFO files:
- Exploding UFO looks like weather balloon
- Middle East UFO linked to Russian missile test
- Cosmic Log archive on UFOs
Tip o' the Log to Huffington Post UK for the ParaBreakdown video.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
This story was originally published on Wed Mar 6, 2013 5:52 PM EST
Leave a Comment:
Looks like someone flicked the office lights on and off and it reflected in the window.
If it is on NBC then it is NOT a UFO.
NBC only talks about the obvious and easy ones.
Can't scare the sheep. Heaven's! can't scare the sheep.
It's an IFO, Identified Floating Object.
LOL Tony....well done! Also could add "Flying" as it optically appears to be both flying and floating. Wonder why Mr Crowe released this. I'm guessing he's a believer in UFO's. One should always look for the obvious rather than automatically assume something "supernatural" is involved. I'll bet he gets a good ribbing from his friends and possibly a strong suggestion to cut down on alcohol consumption. He sure looks overweight from his gladiator days and maybe imbibing too much is the culprit.
Rationality - Takes the fun out of everything.
LIghts off and on or not - there is plenty of evidence that the world is being visited. Check out The Allies of Humanity alliesofhumanity.org for insight into this that is beyond what most people expect.
THIS IS A TRUE STORY! In 1974, Paradise Valley a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. My sister and I had a UFO Experience. I was 7 years old and she was 9.In the fall of 1974 my sister and I were walking to school, it was around 4:00am and completely dark outside. The reason why we were walking to school so early is because in 1974 Paradise Valley was brand new, our new school "Arrowhead" was still being built, so "Indian Bend" had Double Sessions to accommodate all the children. First session was 5am-11am.We were walking to school and then we saw a huge golden pyramid floating in front of Shadow Mountain about 50 feet above the ground, right where this "water treatment plant" is located. It was massive 300 feet tall and 300 feet wide at least. I don't have any memory of anything after that except a generic memory of going to school that day. I have an implant that is in my hand, a little black spot, under my skin. At the age of 7, that moment changed my life. I have been on a quest ever since to find out what that was. When you see the golden pyramid of The Illuminati, that would be the best way to describe the pyramid we saw. Here is a link to a documentary called "The UFO Experience", there is video of this exact same pyramid in the film.
LOL. Nick seek help.
I wonder what his next movie will be all about?
UFO's
I don't know if ufo's are real or not neither does anyone else, perhaps they are from another dimension or have technology far superior to ours, that is, if they do exist. Simply to deny any such possibility off hand makes no sense, and doesn't help solve the many sightings.
Imagina-a-aaaa-a-aa-aaa-ation....
That is clearly an artifact reflected in the window, since it appears to be between the building and the nearby trees. My guess is that the reflection is from the light in the front of a carpet sweeper being pushed along inside the building reflecting off the double pane windows. Hokey at best and certainly not a flying object outside.
Did he try to beat it up?
It was a ghost of a "Tugger" boat from Russell Crowes South Park episode after he shot himself.
Actually, "sunset reflection off a passing airplane" rates as the best explanation in my book, particularly if Crowe is telling the truth about not having any glass in front of the lens.
Alan and others,
The term "UFO" was coined by an Air Force officer named Ed Ruppelt who headed up one of the three major US Air Force studies on UFOS. I'm sure youve all heard of project Blue Book?
I think we would all agree that the term "UFO" is a semantic nightmare because it means, properly, unidentified flying object but connotes alien origin whenever its used.
As scientists (we all are at some level) we shouldn't even be using the UFO term without also mentioning the hypothesis that is propounded by clear thinking people interested in this subject; SOME UFOs are most likely of extraterrestrial origin. NOT ALL.
As Stanton Friedman says, "Underline SOME" twice.
Curiously, Ruppelt wrote a book after leaving the Air Force which can be downloaded on librivox dot com for free as an mp3. ( I highly recommend it, the reader does an outstanding job.)
What you won't learn about Ruppelt by listening to his book on tape is that he died at the very young age of 37 of a heart attack after republishing his book with an addendum chapter which explained away all of his previous conclusions and offering cartoon explanations such as insects illuminated by "mercury street lamps" which were new for the times. Why would he publish a book critial o fthe air force and then re publish with an extra chapter that contradicts the entire corpus with a tongue in cheek feel? And then the man dies? Heart problems? Maybe. Always, there is maybe. But when you consider that the man was also part of the second string crew for flying the Enola Gay mission to bomb Japan even the most jaded skeptics say ..."Huh?". People with heart conditions don't qualify for the equivalent of an astronaut backup. IMO he was murdered.
Honestly, Russell Crow would be perfect as Ed Ruppelt! I see it playing out along the classic Campbell steps of hero's journey. Ruppelt delivers gold and it turns to sand in the hands of the provincial villagers.
Ruppelt had more than one heart attack. Was the first one an attempted murder?
Also, I cant find backup that Ruppelt was a backup for the Enola Gay mission. He wasn't even a crew member of the Big Stink which would have been the backup plane for the mission. Do you have sources?
Colin Bennett. Check it out. He was there, he was a b29 bombadier. Granted, maybe not labeled, second string, but certainly in line.
More relevant, why don't you explain the addendum chapter of his book? Have you even read it? Its bizarre. Read it and get back to me.
While you're at it, can you get a copy of "The Estimate of the Situation" for me? As you know, the conclusion waaaay back during the Sign/Grudge years was that SOME UFOs were interplanetary. Who ordered that the copies be destroyed? Vandenberg? Why?
If there nothing to the flying saucer subject then why are the intelligence services so interested in US citizens who are involved? Read Paul Bennowitz and William Moore for example....
His widow said that he had become disgusted with all of the ridiculous speculations regarding UFOs and the tongue in cheek was a serious poke at people that believed UFOs were anything other than explainable. Also, it doesn't serve truth to make wild insinuations that he was murdered for his views via a heart attack when he had previously suffered a heart attack. Consider that if, if he was on the backup crew for the Enola Gay he had gotten there because of a long distinguished Air Force flying career and even today it is difficult to diagnose and catch heart conditions. Look at the recent deaths and near deaths on the soccer fields of Europe caused by heart attacks. Those players aren't even allowed on the pitch until they have gone through very rigorous testing.
My point is... There is nothing all that strange in his writings or his death that would suggest some grand conspiracy to hide UFO knowledge.
UFO's have to be a conspiracy nuts wet dream. It fits in the same category as leprechauns, big foot, loch nest monster and religions.
Gotta tell my UFO story.
In 1966 or 67 I was stationed at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana. As a newby I was made the Base UFO Officer as an "auxiliary (extra) duty." I would occasionally take a report from a local law enforcement agency and fill out a Blue Book form. Nothing taxing.
But one day along came a mylar weather balloon launched from North Dakota. The thing was running low on gas and was trailing a bunch of lines on the ground. The thing was HUGE. It moved across the base which was alarming because the base is a significant nuclear storage site. But it went on. That night I got a call from a sheriff's office near Baton Rouge. He had a woman on the phone and wanted me to talk to her. So I did. She said that she had captured a UFO and it said on the bottom that she would receive $5000 for capturing it. Obviously this was the gondola of the balloon and there was some sort of recovery reward. I asked her what she meant about capturing it. She said that she hjad tied all the lines to her carport, a chain link fence ans a number of shrubs. I advised her that this was not a good idea and told her to untie it. She laid down the phone and all I heard was a scream.
Later that night and the next morning there were a large number of reports of a weather balloon dragging a chainlink fence, the remains of a carport and some shurbbery, taking down power and telephone lines as it went. The best UFO I ever heard of.
I always get a kick out of people like sutter, who like to invoke a military (authority) connection in a somewhat veiled attempt to scare people into believing in UFOs. As if the ultimate arbiter of what is or isn't objectively real is whatever threatens one into submission. Of course, the fear shows its clear origin in his own mind with the conspiracy theory about the murder through faked heart attack.
THIS IS A TRUE STORY! In 1974, Paradise Valley a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. My sister and I had a UFO Experience. I was 7 years old and she was 9.In the fall of 1974 my sister and I were walking to school, it was around 4:00am and completely dark outside. The reason why we were walking to school so early is because in 1974 Paradise Valley was brand new, our new school "Arrowhead" was still being built, so "Indian Bend" had Double Sessions to accommodate all the children. First session was 5am-11am.We were walking to school and then we saw a huge golden pyramid floating in front of Shadow Mountain about 50 feet above the ground, right where this "water treatment plant" is located. It was massive 300 feet tall and 300 feet wide at least. I don't have any memory of anything after that except a generic memory of going to school that day. I have an implant that is in my hand, a little black spot, under my skin. At the age of 7, that moment changed my life. I have been on a quest ever since to find out what that was. When you see the golden pyramid of The Illuminati, that would be the best way to describe the pyramid we saw. Here is a link to a documentary called "The UFO Experience", there is video of this exact same pyramid in the film.
It is definitely not a plane, since it is in front of the trees in two of the pictures. That is, unless the plane was flying 50 feet off the ground in an urban area, which would be highly unlikely. I would be interested in the time span between the photos.
On Twitter, Russell said the three photos were taken over a span of 4.5 seconds:
https://twitter.com/russellcrowe/status/309237172270153728
I think the glare of the reflection and the soft focus could make it look as if the red light was in front of the trees. And the yellowish streaks in the picture certainly argue in favor of some sort of optical effect. (Particularly the yellow streak off to the left of the red light.) It'd have to be something that went unnoticed by other residents in the area, and sunset reflection would fit, as would reflection by glass (perhaps a filter?). If the pictures were taken around sunset, that would be a strong clue. If they weren't, then the sunset hypothesis obviously wouldn't work. It looks as if the camera was pointing westward, from Woolloomooloo toward the Botanic Gardens, so it's conceivable that the light of the setting sun was reflected off the plane and across to the camera. But I have to admit now that I'm not as fully convinced as I was.
Now that I've seen the ParaBreakdown video, the "Unidentified Floating Object" explanation makes much more sense than the "sunlight reflected by airplane" explanation.
It was obviously some light streaking by on a long exposure, especially since you see a light near the bottom matching the red light "in the sky", but I would not have guessed sailboat. But having all the evidence, it makes the most sense.
Good forensic detective work.
Yep, definitely a sailboat. Especially when you factor in the time span of 4.5 seconds (as Alan reported) and the waterway between the trees and Russell's place (as shown in the video). Why Mr. Crowe couldn't deduce as much is beyond me.
UFO are here!
UFO! Did anyone else see it?
"What you saw was the light from Venus, that got trapped in a pocket of swamp gas, reflecting off a weather ballon. Now look right here....***FLASH****"
Well it's certainly unidentified and an object, so they're two-thirds of the way there. The real mystery is who, or what, named this Woolloomooloo of which they speak?
It's an Aboriginal name from long, long ago Granite, now a 'bayside' suburb of Sydney.
And to Russell, you'll be ok mate but lay off the hard stuff will ya!
No UFO citing has ever turned out to actually be extraterrestrials. Ever. Why do people insist on going to that explanation first?
They like to feign irrationality, makes them feel young again.
@milkyway-First learn to spell, more people will take you seriously. How do you know that no sightings have ever turned out to be extraterrestrial? Has the government of every nation on this earth bestowed their findings upon you?
The odds of all governments around the world able to keep quite about something like you would watch in science fiction movies is not likely.... like not at all. The fact that in this modern age we don't have one shred of evidence of little green men should sound an alarm of skepticism with everyone except conspiracy nuts.
And what's up with the anal probe bit. Would you expect them to be more interested in other aspects of our world. :)
@TTerry-I'm sure your spelling is perfect, that's why so many people take you seriously. Oh wait...there's that whole space ship/little green men thing that you believe in. Nevermind. Seriously.
No idea about the light, but the sound effects are from another planet!
Knowing his predisposition for drinking.....
"Totally polluted Down Under!" LOL!!
His next movie he will be playing Noah from the Old Testament. Why? I have no idea. So taking pictures of a UFO is nothing for him. What happened Russel? When did you lose it?
if it was robert di niro maybe. russel crowe? have another fosters oil can.
Aha, the list of adjectives describing Crowe has grown. Russel Crowe is a worthless, childish, violent and (now we can add) STUPID f'ing P.o.S.
That's a bit rough Chris.
No need to get nasty, surely!
I don't know what Crow captured on film, but i don't believe in UFOs. I would believe if i did see a UFO, but know one would believe me ether.
I've never seen a UFO, been abducted or seen a grey... However, to think in the extreme vastness of the Universe that we are the ONLY intelligence (higher that is) that exists, is very arrogant (and so human) and mathematically improbable.
I think those that scoff at this, are actually terrified of the notion... They just won't admit to it.
We have not even mapped and discovered all the species in our oceans and lakes, so how can we be so sure of the Universe? We can't...
I don't think most UFO skeptics doubt the possibility or even the probability of life elsewhere in the universe. It's the part about them travelling here that's a little hard to believe. Interstellar travel is quite difficult I'm told. Also, what do they do when they get here? Eviscerate cows? Build crop circles? What an astounding lack of imagination from this higher order being.
With all the modern digital equipment we have today why is it that these UFO pictures/videos all seem to be the result of an amateur videographer?
Maybe because there are more amateurs than professionals.
I do not see the airplane theory:
1. Because the body of an airplane is almost always round in cross section and the reflection off a round object would be a thin line, not a fat one. A fat reflection would come from a flat surface.
2. The red bar of light is too intense for an airplane reflection. Such intensity would have to come from a concave surface and the surface of aircraft with round bodies is convex.
3. The bright redness of the ground relative to the red bar of light would make it seem that the red bar is the source of the light, not a reflection, and appears to be lighting the ground underneath as if with a red searchlight.
So the plane is flying in front of the tree...? I don't think so, look at the third pic. it's also lighting the ground, reflections don't cast light on the ground!
Yup, I think the ParaBreakdown explanation makes much more sense. Watch the video and tell me what you think.
@ GOD SPEED:
The shadow of an airplane on the ground as it flies between the earth and the sun is an absence of light.
An aluminum wing can act as a mirror and reflect the sun's light onto the ground in the same manner if, to the viewer's eye, the sun is below the position of the airplane as it flies by. This presence of light is harder to see than the shadow because the surface of the wing's airfoil is essentially convex, causing any light reflecting off the wing to be spread out, reducing its intensity.
BINGO.... it's a sailboat!
Tucked away in the corner of an unremarkable galaxy in the corner of the universe, the odds of one of our neighbors noticing us is miniscule. But that does leave a "chance". Foolish to think that we are alone in this.
Too bad I probably wont live long enough to find out.
As for these three pictures... I was a camera and video buff. I was an engineer at a TV station. I first developed b&w film and printed pictures around the age of 6 (my elder siblings let me use their stuff). I built and calibrated LN2 cooled CCD cameras before any of you knew what a CCD was.
This is probably a combination of things. A bit of, "HAY, LOOK AT ME", and the passing of a sailboat.
So Russel just did a movie? Guess I'll check it out. Hope it's worth 90 minutes of my life.
Geez Mister Boyle, I sure am glad you did your best to discredit an event that you were not there to see in the first person. It's so good to see our beloved Main Scream Media attack issues like this without a shred of evidence beyond 'opinion'. Science must be so grateful for desk'perts like you!
Did you watch the video? It makes it quite obvious that it's a sailboat.
Even Mister Crowe didn't witness the event himself. He only saw it after reviewing the shots he took. His imagination ran a bit wild and he raised the UFO warning flag. Have you ever watched that Bigfoot show on Animal Planet? Those kooks hear a branch crack and figure it HAS to be a Bigfoot, because THAT is what they are looking for.
A Beautiful Mind movie scenario with Crowe in real life .
Well, that video does a good job of pretty much proving it's a sailboat. Crowe's office is on a pier; there's all kinds of lights from boats moving around and reflecting off of the water.