"Herb Schaltegger" wrote in message
...
This has pretty conclusively shown to be the result of lens flare
causing the iris in the camcorder to become visible. I think someone
calculated the slant range as something on the order of a few dozen
miles, taking into account lateral distance and elevation from the
camera. I challenged one poster to go outside on a sunny day and focus
his camcorder on an DC-9/MD-80 airliner passing overhead at 30,000 feet
and see the best detail he could resolve. Of course, my challenge would
have been a much easier case - 7 to 8 times lower altitude, smaller
lateral distance, etc. And even so (of course!) we never heard from
that particular poster again. What a surprise.

I guess I missed the discussion, but I downloaded the video in question, and
my first impression was fakery.