Viewing the UFO in MUFON case 59920

The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) case 59920 includes a possibly-authentic video recording: Case 59920 - UFO Caught on Sky Cam. This document summarizes my frame-by-frame analysis of part of that video. I've used open-source software to:

1. Select interesting frames from the UFO video.
2. Extract (crop and interpolate) UFO closeups (enlargements) from the frames.
3. Create an online slideshow of UFO closeups.
4. Examine the UFO's features, including its components and activities.

UFO video
At approximately 9:08 PM on September 16, 2014, in Newburgh, New York, a witness used an unattended Samsung SCB 2000 skywatch camera to record a UFO as it moved east to west directly overhead. After finding that his camera had recorded the UFO, the witness reported it to both MUFON and the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC).

Note: To view this video in slow motion or frame-by-frame, you can use either RowVid or Anilyzer. For more information, please see How to analyze UFO videos.

UFO closeups

Using procedures in Analyzing UFO videos through interpolated closeups, I've extracted interpolated closeups (enlargements) from various frames of the video in MUFON case 59920.

Each uninterpolated UFO closeup has relatively few pixels, typically between 200 and 2500. Therefore, we cannot see details as clearly as we prefer because each pixel appears as a relatively-large square. However, graphics software uses interpolation to calculate many new pixels among the uninterpolated pixels, which smooths out the squares. While not perfect, an interpolated closeup helps us see general shapes more clearly than would the patchwork of pixels in an uninterpolated closeup.

UFO slideshow

I've created an online slideshow, Closeups of the UFO in MUFON case 59920, which lets you see clear, large, sequential images. As you scroll through the slideshow, you can see how the object changes over time. I identify each closeup according to the approximate time at which its frame had been recorded after the start of the video, at 00.00 seconds. This slideshow consists of closeups extracted from 46 frames, recorded at 0.04- and 0.08-second intervals (averaging 0.067 seconds), starting at time 04.12 and ending at time 07.24. (The  0.067-second interval averaging resulted from the skywatch camera recording at 15 frames per second.)

Note: My UFO slideshows are central to these analyses. I initiate each UFO-analysis project by creating a slideshow. Multiple, sequential images are more informative. No single image can show whether an object is making changes.

This UFO was was so bright that it nearly overwhelmed the skywatch camera. To see more surface and edge details in each image, I needed to decrease brightness and increase contrast. My graphics software is the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). The default brightness and contrast values in GIMP are both 0 (zero). To clarify all images of this UFO, I set brightness to -100 and contrast to 100. For example, as shown in figures 1 through 4, their low-contrast images are at the left, and their high-contrast images are at the right. In the slideshow, I've included only high-contrast images. 

Figure 1 - UFO at video time 04.20 seconds -
The high-contrast image (at right) indicates a waffle-like surface.

Figure 2 - UFO at 04.44 seconds - The high-contrast
image (at right) shows a pattern of surface ridges.

Figure 3 - UFO at 05.32 seconds - The high-contrast
image (at right) shows sharper features near the outer edge.

Figure 4 - UFO at 06.44 seconds - Again, the high-contrast
image (at right) shows a pattern of surface ridges.

UFO features

I've tried examining this UFO's features (components and activities), after extracting its interpolated closeups and creating its slideshow. Trying to understand this object is difficult because its apparent composition is inconsistent, even among its images that share similar outlines. In any case, if the video is authentic (not a hoax), these closeups indicate that this UFO is probably an object of unknown origin.

UFO components - I cannot determine whether this UFO has separate components other than circular pits (craters?) and, possibly, a few surface ridges.

UFO activities - This UFO is flying in or near a layer of thin clouds. Its motion seems to push some clouds from its path. I cannot tell whether this object is tumbling, rotating, changing shape, or all three. Also, if the UFO has separate components, some might be changing shape independently.