Is it for real? Australian catches close-up footage of meteor fireball

Gawan

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There is a video released where a fireball above a beach of Melbourne, Australia can be seen. As I watched it, it looked a bit staged to me, beside the sound comes off a bit too. So far there are no other reports about it and the video is released by a security brand:

The video, posted to YouTube (see below) by Overwatch Security, features body camera footage filmed by a worker for the firm as he walked on a Victoria beach on a stormy day.

 
Gawan said:
There is a video released where a fireball above a beach of Melbourne, Australia can be seen. As I watched it, it looked a bit staged to me, beside the sound comes off a bit too. So far there are no other reports about it and the video is released by a security brand:

The video, posted to YouTube (see below) by Overwatch Security, features body camera footage filmed by a worker for the firm as he walked on a Victoria beach on a stormy day.


Also the sound comes right at the moment the "comet" explodes. In the videos of the chelyabinsk meteor the exploding sound comes only seconds later because of the traveling distance of the sound.

I would tend to say that it is fake.
 
There is only a slight delay of about one second between the explosion and the sound from what I can tell. Which would put the person viewing it very close indeed. Assuming it's real, what are the odds of having someone with a camera running that close and facing the right direction to capture the event?
 
Actually, you see the brilliance of the fireball at about 16 seconds and that is probably the main explosion. Then, you hear the sound at about 23 seconds, 7 seconds later. So, yeah, I think it's real.
 
You never know for sure with internet videos, which is really annoying. Given the amount of fireballs we see now it could well be real. It's just a very convenient shot and he doesn't seem to flinch at all when the sound hits him.

The "finger of god" it leaves burned into the sky afterwards is awesome.

If fake then it's a really good one.
 
Yeah, a bit hard to tell with this one. My first instinct is to say it is a fake because of the CGI-like lens flaring and the sound. Also, there seem to be no reflections on the water or any other impact on the surrounding nature. You'd think there would be some kind of wind gust or something...

In any case, if real, this would be one of the most amazing meteor videos ever taken. Right up there with the Chelyabinsk footage. Also, in the last 6 months or so, I have seen a lot more of "shooting stars" from my balcony. Probably the most ever. Look up!
 
Carl said:
You never know for sure with internet videos, which is really annoying. Given the amount of fireballs we see now it could well be real.

That's what I also thought. Until proved otherwise, we can only guess if it is real or not.
 
adam7117 said:
Yeah, a bit hard to tell with this one. My first instinct is to say it is a fake because of the CGI-like lens flaring and the sound. Also, there seem to be no reflections on the water or any other impact on the surrounding nature. You'd think there would be some kind of wind gust or something...

Actually, if you watch it carefully over and over again, each time paying close attention to a different part of what is in view, you will see that the ground did brighten but that the angle wasn't correct for you to get a reflection from the water. Also, it ended before there would be any time for wind. It was about right for the sound to travel in 7 seconds which tells you a little bit about the distance at the moment of explosion, but it would take somewhat longer for any shockwave to arrive, assuming that it would be "aimed" in that direction.

Again, I suggest watching it over and over and paying attention to details and imagining yourself in the scene, and having a good general knowledge of how light usually acts, sound, winds, shadows, etc.

One wonders if the reason for the abrupt ending was because the guy freaked out. I know if it was me, I'd be so shocked that I would probably be speechless for a few minutes, assessing my safety, etc.
 
Carl said:
You never know for sure with internet videos, which is really annoying. Given the amount of fireballs we see now it could well be real. It's just a very convenient shot and he doesn't seem to flinch at all when the sound hits him.

The "finger of god" it leaves burned into the sky afterwards is awesome.

If fake then it's a really good one.

(sorry i messed up my post)

Having watched it twice this was my thought. And the abrupt ending as mentioned by Laura, i find suspect as any reaction only adds to the situation so why edit it. But i'm no expert.

I agree if it's fake, it's a good one.
 
Just adding a point of data.
If you watch footage of bright fireballs, especially if the camera is pointed directly at them the images brightness/aperture adjusts.
This can be seen as the point of light overwhelming the image, then the rest of the scene darkens relative to the source of bright light as the hardware compensates. It is then followed by a further adjustment if the light source is removed or fades suddenly, the whole scene will appear dark and then readjust brighter.

You can see the guys camera do this. At the start where he points towards the sun before sitting down - the camera is adjusting the overall brightness of the image down (darkening) as he sits down. The path/clouds are much darker by comparison, and the camera readjusts after a second to balance the input.
Having looped this, you can see the camera adjusts in these periods after about half a second.

Where it does not balance is with the flash of the meteor. The entire scene brightens. This should not happen.
Given the light from the meteor lasts many seconds and then fades abruptly you should see balancing in both direction - firstly as it gets brighter, the brightness of everything else in the image gets turned down. Then one it's gone, everything should appear dark for half a second or so.

What I do see happening is the entire scene brightening, which suggests a photoshop style image filter and poor knowledge of cameras.
To prove the point, attached is a still I photoshopped in a few minutes (just turn up contrast/brightness).
Compare to the brightness of the plants to the brightest point of the meteor on the video - the entire scene is brightened with no sign of the camera adjusting.

The following video shows how a camera should respond - compare and contrast the brightness of the object vs the brightness of the rest of the image.

 

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Here's the guys twitter feed: _https://twitter.com/OverWS

OverWatch Security ‏@OverWS Feb 19

PocoCam: The Revolutionary Pocket Camera: _http://youtu.be/6xRIUbTI888?a via @YouTube
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OverWatch Security ‏@OverWS Feb 18

Crazy Meteor Strikes Australia Over Fishing Boats & Right In Front Of Me: _http://youtu.be/006G4s5C_7c?a via @YouTube
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OverWatch Security ‏@OverWS Feb 16

Connecting the PocoCam to the computer: _http://youtu.be/X4oFAI1oOTM?a via @YouTube
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OverWatch Security ‏@OverWS Jan 30

Professional Police Grade 1296P Waterproof/Night Vision Body Camera [DEMONSTRATION VIDEO]: _http://youtu.be/c_csTPkrDrs?a via @YouTube

My guess, the meteor video is advertising for this:
 
That was my thoughts as well, seems like they're trying to make a viral video to sell their camera.

While testing one of our Body Cameras on a stormy day a meteor hit the bay directly in front of me just as i sat down. The sound was insanely loud but only lasted for a second or two. Scary stuff, i was literally lost for words. Hopefully no boats were hit!

Purchase a Body Cam here: http://goo.gl/Vkd2ue

How convenient !
 
Looks real to me. Brightens over saturation of the 'tail' and clouds are common for the digital cameras. I think that the boom is not from the explosion (on the end of the video) but from the 'entering' of the asteroid in the man's hearing (and visual) area. There are no sound from the end because the man probably shut down the camera or freaked out.

There would be no reflection on the water because of the angle of the asteroid and because it is overall cloudy so the reflection would be less visible, plus bear in mind that the object's altitude is probably a few kilometers in the atmosphere. If it was lower, the boom sound would be much louder (think: 'jet plane through the sound barrier very close')
 
Tigersoap said:
That was my thoughts as well, seems like they're trying to make a viral video to sell their camera.

While testing one of our Body Cameras on a stormy day a meteor hit the bay directly in front of me just as i sat down. The sound was insanely loud but only lasted for a second or two. Scary stuff, i was literally lost for words. Hopefully no boats were hit!

Purchase a Body Cam here: http://goo.gl/Vkd2ue

How convenient !

Yes, totally agree, looking again at the video with the information provided by RedFox and Tigersoap you can see clearly that the vid is not real.
 
In the last second or two on the video you can hear car alarms going off - reminiscent of some footage from the Chelyabinsk overhead meteor explosion.

Would someone really go to that level of detail in faking a video to try and sell a camera? I doubt it.

I also think it's reasonable for the guy to try and sell the camera from what appears to be a very unexpected (and quite shocking) marketing opportunity. :)

I would be speechless too I am sure in that situation.

With so much meteor fireball activity nowadays I am sure we will see plenty more videos soon!
 
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