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Why Do We See Orbs?
Orb sightings have fascinated people for decades, often linked to spiritual or UFO narratives. While these experiences can feel profound, many orb appearances in photos and videos have well-understood physical explanations. Knowing these helps us appreciate both the mystery and the science.
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The USUAL Reasons that We See “Orbs”
1. Bright Objects Crossing the Sky
Some of the most striking orb videos show a luminous object gliding across the night sky. In several cases, these match the International Space Station (ISS) passing overhead. The ISS is extremely bright when sunlit and moves in a steady, predictable path. To the naked eye—or through night vision—it can look like a glowing orb, especially if you’re not expecting it.
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2. Orbs Near the Moon
Videos of orbs appearing to cross the Moon often result from camera optics. When zoomed in, any bright object—such as a satellite or distant aircraft—can appear as a glowing sphere due to bokeh effects (out-of-focus highlights) and lens diffraction. These optical artifacts are common in consumer cameras.
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3. Satellites and Space Debris
Beyond the ISS, there are over 50,000 tracked objects in Earth orbit, including thousands of active satellites and spent rocket stages. Many of these reflect sunlight and can appear as bright moving points—sometimes mistaken for orbs. Starlink satellites, for example, often create “orb trains” that surprise observers unfamiliar with their predictable paths.
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4. Multiple Orbs Over Water
Large gatherings near rivers sometimes report “hundreds of orbs.” A likely explanation is navigation lights on boats. Red and green lights are required by maritime law and, at night, they can look like floating orbs—especially when filmed from a distance. Moisture in the air and lens flare can amplify this effect.
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5. Dust and Moisture Particles
When a camera flash or infrared light hits dust particles, pollen, or moisture droplets close to the lens, they reflect light back and appear as glowing spheres. Because they’re out of focus, they look like perfect orbs. This is extremely common in night photography and paranormal investigations.
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6. Octagonal and Polygonal Orbs
Most phone cameras have an aperture formed by multiple blades. When light sources are out of focus, the shape of the aperture determines the shape of the bokeh. If the aperture has 8 blades, you’ll often see octagonal orbs instead of perfect circles. Some lenses produce hexagonal or even irregular shapes depending on design. Smartphone software sharpening can exaggerate these edges, making the orb look “engineered” rather than optical.
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7. Sensor Blooming and Digital Artifacts
When cameras focus on bright points in low light, they often produce sensor blooming or circular highlights. These can look structured or luminous, but they’re a result of how digital sensors handle intense light.
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Why These Appearances Feel Special
– Context matters: When orb sightings occur during spiritual or UFO-focused events, they feel meaningful.
– Camera limitations: Consumer optics exaggerate light effects in ways our eyes don’t.
– Human pattern-seeking: We naturally interpret ambiguous lights through the lens of expectation.
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Closing Perspective
While orb sightings can feel extraordinary, research and optical science suggest that the vast majority—likely 95% or so—are prosaic misperceptions. They often stem from camera artifacts, atmospheric conditions, satellites, or simple environmental lights. Recognizing this doesn’t diminish the sense of wonder; it simply grounds the conversation in reality while leaving space for genuine mysteries.
However
By reducing ‘noise’ we can leave room for a clearer perception of truly anomalous experiences, if and when they come along.
Platonic Surrealism notes that the sphere is one of the most energy-efficient forms to be found in nature, and that this form would be a frequent form utilized by various processes, both in the dream of physicality and outside of it.
It is also noted that one must be in an altered state of consciousness (ASC) in many cases, to perceive a large variety of ‘Orbs’.
This is why some people see ‘Orbs’ and others don’t, even if they stand shoulder to shoulder.
Now per the PS document The Epistemology and Ontology of ‘Aliens’ and ‘Beings’ in Platonic Surrealism, these orbs exist
in many forms (it’s a great energy-efficient design to have evolved), and some may ‘materialize’ at times, so that people not
in an ASC might perceive them as well.
But please keep in mind, that these more ‘exotic orbs’ are probably about 5% or so of the total number of orbs ‘seen’.
Kevin Cann
Public Domain
12/2/2025