Replication of a Three-Phase Imaging Workflow on an Ambiguous Pilbara Luminous Aerial Event: Screening, Image-Plane Diagnostics, and the Evidentiary Value of Opportunistic Video

Abstract

Opportunistic mobile-phone recordings constitute a substantial component of civilian material submitted for unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) research, yet their scientific value is constrained by uncertain provenance, computational imaging, compression and lack of calibration. This study examined whether a previously published three-phase imaging workflow could be transferred to an independent, ambiguous luminous aerial recording from the Pilbara region of Western Australia. A screening-first case-study design documented event context and chain of custody, assessed astronomical, aviation, mine-site, orbital, atmospheric and instrumental candidates, and examined a contiguous 50-frame sequence, with 15 representative frames illustrating the range of recorded appearances. The adapted workflow used classical RGB and contrast enhancement, centroid-based exploded-frame deconstruction and two-dimensional Fourier-domain coherence processing. Findings were interpreted according to image domain: sequence-level recurrence for Phase 1, source-crop traceability for Phase 2 and whole-scene interpretation for Phase 3. Screening produced no positive identification, although incomplete timing, camera calibration and archival records prevented categorical exclusion. Phase 1 documented target persistence, relative colour-intensity change and peripheral asymmetry. Combined enhancement and exploded-frame processing exposed nonuniform intensity regions within an isolated Target A crop but could not distinguish a definitive source structure from camera or processing effects. Exploratory whole-scene coherence processing produced concentrated responses at locations corresponding to Targets A and B but did not establish target-specific structural replication. Replication was strongest for sequence-level colour-intensity variation and peripheral asymmetry. However, internal architecture, target-centred coherence, trajectory and wake behaviour were not securely reproduced. The workflow is best suited to conservative intake, triage and comparative assessment of citizen-derived UAP imagery rather than for determining object identity, mechanism or origin.