Lens Flares, Bokeh & Camera Artifacts
Shapes that appear only in photos or video — flares, reflections, and out-of-focus dots created inside the camera, not in the sky.
Tell-tale sign
The object is invisible to your eyes but shows up on camera, and it moves opposite to the camera or mirrors a bright light source in the frame.
What you see
A translucent disc, ring, orb, or geometric blob in an image — often colored, sometimes repeating in a line across the frame. Crucially, no one saw it in person; it's only there when you look at the footage.
Common forms: lens flare (streaks or polygons from a bright light like the Sun or a streetlamp), bokeh (soft glowing circles from out-of-focus point lights, e.g. distant lights or dust), and internal reflections that echo a light source across the picture.
Why it happens
Light bouncing between the glass elements inside a lens creates flares and ghost reflections whose shape follows the aperture — which is why 'craft' often look like clean hexagons or discs. Out-of-focus specks of dust, rain, or insects near the lens turn into glowing orbs. Phone cameras add their own reflections from the protective cover glass.
Tell-tale behavior: the artifact slides the opposite way when you pan the camera, sits diametrically opposite a bright light around the frame's center, and vanishes when you change angle or focus.
How to confirm
Re-watch the clip: does the shape track the camera's movement rather than the scene? Is there a bright light (Sun, lamp, headlight) it seems to mirror? Did any witness see it without a screen?
If it only exists on camera, mirrors a light source, and moves with the lens, it's an optical artifact — not an object in the sky.