In the photo: Typical "orbs"
In what cases can ghosts, UFOs, aliens, drums and other vermin appear on photographs? Physicist Klaus Heinemann knows the answer - this happens with a phenomenon that in the English-language scientific literature is called the term orbs. However, caution does not hurt when it comes to balancing on the brink of science and mysticism
Under the term orb - i.e. a ball refers to the presence of unexpectedly appearing, typically rounded objects in photographs, which sometimes leave a trajectory indicating movement. Technically, this appearance of "balls", especially in modern ultra-compact cameras, can be explained not only by the aberrations of optical systems, but also by obtaining an unsharp image when shooting, especially with the use of a flash.
Many amateur photographers are familiar with these light, grayish-white oval-shaped spots that appear unpredictably in photographs. But not everyone understands where they came from. For some initiated into occult secrets and adherents of the paranormal, it is clear that these inexplicable orbs are the personification of everything unearthly. Ingmar Veeck is one of the few who has studied this topic in detail for a long time. On his personal web page, the German researcher publishes everything related to orbs: what they are, where they come from, as well as numerous illustrations that clearly demonstrate examples of their appearance.
He first noticed such spots more than three years ago, when he developed his pictures taken while on vacation.
There is no scientific evidence, since not only in Germany, but also nowhere in the world, no one seriously deals with this phenomenon. Except in the USA. Physicist Klaus Heinemann and theologian Míceál Ledwith have published The Orb Project, which explores "the search for energy phenomena in digital photography."
“For 4 years now, my wife and I have been dealing with the orbs problem,” says Heinemann, a native of Germany, on Focus-online. - I have analyzed more than a thousand pictures showing the orbs phenomenon. With the advent of digital cameras, their number has increased incredibly. Heinemann tries to explain why this phenomenon occurs.
“Many of them, and this is a fact, are just a consequence of light reflection,” he says, adding that the orbs effect occurs when even the smallest dust particle enters the field of view of the lens. Of course, these dust particles should be just a few centimeters in front of the lens. And yet, several cases of the occurrence of orbs continue to remain unexplained for the researcher by any known physical laws.
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“If the object or face in the photograph, for example, is partially covered by the orb, then this cannot be a reflection of a particle of dust,” says Heinemann. “It would just be too far away for a beam of light to bend around it. The researcher has developed his own criteria for determining the true orbs: “Perhaps we can say that there are exceptional phenomena that cannot be explained by the known physical laws. My hypothesis is that these are messages from beings that do not exist in this reality."
“There are so many different theories about what the orbs phenomenon is,” writes Ingmar Feek, 32, in response to questions from readers of his website. They can arise from intensely experienced emotions, which are especially often captured in photographs of a large crowd of people. They can also be ghosts who want to show their physical form. Or people who at this moment make a trip to the astral plane, as Feek himself once experienced. In any case, he is sure that we are dealing with particles with very high energy. However, we still do not have genuine scientific evidence of this.
Seeking objective evidence, physicist Katherine Creath and psychologist Gary E. Schwartz at the University of Arizona took nearly 1,000 pictures of different people in different locations in 2005 using three different cameras. They also invited psychic healers, who are believed to often bring with them the orbs effect. In about 200 photographs, the researchers found the so-called AOI - "anomalous orbic images" - abnormal spherical images.
Especially often the AOI effect was observed in pictures taken with cheap "soap boxes", and not taken with expensive cameras. As the researchers proved, all spots in paintings are reflections.
Nevertheless, even these serious scientists and sober researchers could not quite explain the appearance of the orb phenomenon in the documentary film of the British corporation "BBC". The film was filmed with an expensive infrared camera, without the use of artificial light and photo flash. Nevertheless, the orb effect is clearly demonstrated on the table, on which at first he slowly moved, and then completely disappeared. Experts considered that this "spot" arose from the reflection of dust, but still no "natural" explanation for the cause of this phenomenon has been found.
Igor Bukker