# Explain this Google Earth UFO **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2011, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807 "2011-09-10T07:29:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/1 "2011-09-10T07:29:00Z")
A collection of interesting images from Google Earth. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CWdz_pWYNzY/hqdefault.jpg "52 Interesting Places in Google Earth") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWdz_pWYNzY) see at 4:32 for a UFO. The image resembles a [famous hoax](http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/ufo-hoax-098.jpg)UFO picture. This is known to be made by placing a button on an aerial photo, drawing in a shadow, and photographing it again. I’d suspect the same thing has been done here, or an updated version using Photoshop. But how could a fake photo have been added to Google Earth? Or, if it isn’t fake, then what is it? ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/2 "2011-09-10T11:26:54Z")
The video quality is bad and there are no coords to see it for myself in google earth It looks to me like a greyish circular thing and another unrelated blackish circular thing a bit to the south. If the grey thing was a low flying UFO, the black thing can’t be it’s shadow. It is too far away and the sun would have to be at a very low angle to cast a shadow like that. Also the shadow in that case would be oval shaped, not circular. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/3 "2011-09-10T20:04:51Z")
Is that shadow analysis correct? The angle doesn’t look that wrong to me. But then I’m not any kind of shadow expert. Of course, I’m certain it isn’t a flying object with a shadow. I’m tending to think it’s a fake, like the other photo I linked. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/4 "2011-09-10T21:33:10Z")
Sorry, the whole “sorry guys I lost the coordinates…” reeks of internet bullshit. Fake. ETA: Looking at the photo again, it doesn’t look like the UFO is floating at all. It looks like an object on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/5 "2011-09-10T21:56:20Z")
Which UFO-type object are we talking about? The first one appears to be something on the ground, and not at all in the air, and the second one, in South East England, is clearly a hill fort of some description. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/6 "2011-09-10T22:46:41Z")
I downloaded the video and slowed it to a crawl. The location is somewhere just below the US-Mexican border near [here](http://g.co/maps/ba24d), probably between Corral de Enmedio and Naco. I saw a couple of spots that looked like the area but there was no UFO so I gave up. I don’t have Google Earth installed and was using Google Maps online, so maybe it will pop right out in Earth if someone wants to take a look. To me, the UFO looks like a concrete circle of some sort, and the black spot could be water. Maybe they drained the UFO. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/7 "2011-09-10T22:57:08Z")
> [@Dog80](#): > > The video quality is bad and there are no coords to see it for myself in google earth > > It looks to me like a greyish circular thing and another unrelated blackish circular thing a bit to the south. > > If the grey thing was a low flying UFO, the black thing can’t be it’s shadow. It is too far away and the sun would have to be at a very low angle to cast a shadow like that. Also the shadow in that case would be oval shaped, not circular. I freeze-framed the video to get a sense of where it is: [http://i52.tinypic.com/xpmzd.jpg](http://i52.tinypic.com/xpmzd.jpg) That yellow line is the US/Mexico border, north is at 8 o’clock. The double 90-degree bend pinpoints it to somewhere near [Agua Prieta](http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=31.316101,-109.56665&spn=6.361485,7.965088&t=h&z=7&vpsrc=6). The imagery seems to have been updated since that video was made – the easily visible “lambda shape” of differently hued imagery is not present on the current version, so I can’t find the exact spot, but in that area are several dark circular features that appear to be ponds, eg: I think it’s two of those close to each other, one full and one empty. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/8 "2011-09-10T23:10:23Z")
Bingo - [here it is](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=31+15+11.82+N,+109+52+44+W&hl=en&ll=31.253231,-109.878986&spn=0.001555,0.001945&sll=31.253258,-109.878846&sspn=0.001555,0.001945&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=19). Co-ordinates for Google Earth are 31º 15’ 12"N, 109º 52’ 44’'W approximately. The objects are there throughout the historical imagery, so they are definitely on the ground, not in the air. The one in the video is from 3/8/2007. Edit: **Fubaya** , I see you had the same idea as me of finding the location, I hadn’t seen your post! ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/9 "2011-09-10T23:42:08Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The objects are there throughout the historical imagery, so they are definitely on the ground, not in the air. The one in the video is from 3/8/2007. Dear God. People, we are talking about a UFO CRASH SITE! ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/10 "2011-09-11T00:30:02Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Edit: **Fubaya** , I see you had the same idea as me of finding the location, I hadn’t seen your post! I was all over that area too, I remember the pond to the north, but I ended up deciding that was too far east. I just wonder how anybody ever found it to begin with. You have to be zoomed in to the first or second level, and there’s nothing more boring that scrolling through desert at max zoom. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/11 "2011-09-11T11:53:55Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Dear God. > People, we are talking about a UFO CRASH SITE! It’s far worse than that, I’m afraid. This is obviously the pre-battle landing site for those irascible extraterrestrial aliens, the concretians. Their gripe is actually against the dinosaurs (the gigantic sauropods, in particular…some beef about detesting any being whose footsteps can shatter pavement), but they’re a little late to the party due to exceptionally slow intergalactic ship speed. Apparently their block-headed engineers miscalculated just how fast they can travel in cement pond spaceships. But, they’re here now and hardened for battle. Earthlings, man your jackhammers, it’s going to be a long and dusty fight! ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/12 "2011-09-11T14:26:44Z")
I want to know what the black and red shape at 6:54 is all about? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/13 "2011-09-11T15:53:30Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > I want to know what the black and red shape at 6:54 is all about? It’s certainly not an object on the ground. My guess is that it’s a registration mark on a transparency of aerial imagery that has been scanned in. The location is [here](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=+61%C2%B017'58.44%22N,+149%C2%B037'25.93%22W&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=61.299527,-149.623854&spn=0.003519,0.007778&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=17.654694,31.860352&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=17) (the pic in the video has north roughly at the bottom). In Google Earth, go to 61°17’58"N, 149°37’26"W and set the historical slider to 9/30/2002. NB You can also see a hair just to the northwest of the black and red mark, which supports the theory that this is a scanned transparency. Also note how the mark is right on the edge of two separate photographs, adding weight to the registration mark theory. ETA: I love exploring Google Earth 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/14 "2011-09-11T17:24:24Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > I want to know what the black and red shape at 6:54 is all about? The note says Fehler des(?)Satellites? fehler means mistake, error or failure in German, so even they guy who put it together didn’t think this is something mysterious. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/15 "2011-09-11T19:45:10Z")
Any ranchers here? The Mexican imagery looks like a stock pond surrounded by trees, or a brush corral. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-google-earth-ufo/595807/16 "2011-09-11T21:38:08Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > The note says Fehler des(?)Satellites? fehler means mistake, error or failure in German, so even they guy who put it together didn’t think this is something mysterious. It’s worth pointing out that the imagery in question is from aircraft, not satellites (the closest zoom levels of Google Earth are aerial photography).