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UFO UpDates Mailing List

From: Jim Deardorff <deardorj@ucs.orst.edu>
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 09:56:18 -0700 (PDT)
Fwd Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 19:28:12 -0400
Subject: Re: 'Rods'?

> To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>
> From: Mark Cashman <mcashman@ix.netcom.com>
> Subject: re: UFO UpDate: Re: 'Rods'?
> Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 01:41:58 -0700

> Some simple calculations can be used to determine how close the insect
> has to be in order to cover a specific area on the film.

> For instance, an insect a little over a half inch long at a distance of
> a third of an inch will cover 10 degrees of the field of view. Of
> course, the same insect can be smaller, so long as it travels 10 degrees
> in the 60th of a second the shutter is open, and its image will still
> cover 10 degrees of view.  Or, the insect can be the same size but more
> distant.

The "rods" have interested me some, too.  But in your above "for
instance," Mark, your distance from the camera of 1/3 of an inch seems
like a strange choice, since with a camera focussed near infinity I don't
think you'd see any definite image of anything 1/3 inch away.  Bob?

As I estimate it, if for example you have a 35mm camera with a field of
view of width 45 degrees, then a bug flying 50 mph across your view whose
blurred image occupied 10 degrees during a 1/60 second shutter opening,
would be some 6 or 7 feet away.  (Barring gross arithmetical error.)  My
impression is that hornets, for example, have no problem traveling at such
speeds even close to the ground.

Besides triangulation using two cameras, another test to apply would be to
see if "rods" are ever photographed on crisp cold days in winter as
opposed to nice days in spring and summer when bugs are much more
prevalent.

Jim Deardorff