Corrine Federer of Amsterdam was taking a trip to the Muiderslot Castle outside the city when when took a picture of what appears to be a UFO flying above the medieval structure.
Federer took a photo of the castle using a High Dynamic Range (HDR) camera, which produces high-definition photos by taking three or more images in quick succession. For this shot, the camera exposed the scene five times over the course of less than a second.
The 43-year-old supply chain manager and avid amateur photographer was visiting the castle, built in 1285, with her mother when she took the photos May 25. Neither woman saw the UFO before it was spotted on the images.
"It was a tubular-shaped object that had an S-shaped fin on it. If it had been any type of missile, it would've had multiple fins, but facing the same direction. We heard nothing. It was completely quiet out. The more I flipped through the frames, it was kind of creepy. I've been shooting for quite some time and I've seen other stuff in the news, but I've never seen anything [like this] with my own eyes," Federer said.
The Huffington Post contacted Ben Hansen, a former FBI agent who now hosts Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files on the SyFy Channel to examine the photos. He was unable to prove the files had been manipulated.
"Having the sun in the frame is helpful because it indicates where shadows should appear. This further supports that the object was photographed 'in-camera' and not added later," Hansen said.
Although Federer believes she may have recorded a UFO, others, including Hansen, believe what she photographed was nothing more remarkable than a passing insect. Such insects have been mistaken for flying objects from other worlds in photographs before. Such an explanation would also explain why the pair did not view the object before it appeared in the photograph. Other terrestrial possibilities include a missile test, weather balloon or airplane.
The camera used was a Nikon D800, which is a 36 megapixel (MP) unit, equipped with a wide-angle 14-24mm lens. Each frame was exposed for 1/250 of a second. Each frame is exposed with slightly different settings, which when combined give a higher level of detail than is available in a single exposure.
Federer believes that the blurring that shows with those short exposure speeds means the UFO was traveling quickly, but there is no way to tell how far it was from the camera.
Muiderslot Castle is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It was once home to Pieter Corneliszoon, known as the "Dutch Shakespeare."
Until we know for sure the nature of Federer's object, it certainly remains an unidentified, (possibly) flying object.
