What Are Orbs in Photos? Spirits? Dust?

Many people capture illuminated, circular spots in their photographs. These spots are commonly known as orbs. Some people explain orbs as light reflected off surrounding surfaces; some explain them as light reflected off dust particles; and some explain them as spirits or other entities normally invisible to the human eye.

Little research has been done on this phenomenon, but Dr. Gary E. Schwartz and Adjunct Research Professor of Optical Sciences Katherine Creath at the University of Arizona did publish a study on orbs in 2005. 

An orb captured in a BBC documentary that was not caused by reflected light, according to University of Arizona researchers. The researchers could not provide a scientific explanation for the orb. (Screenshot/u.arizona.edu)

Orbs said by the photographer to be caused by rain. (Wikimedia Commons)

They said most orbs can be explained by the reflection of the camera’s flash off of objects on the scene, or off of dust. However, Schwartz and Creath acknowledged that some orbs seem to defy conventional optical explanation.

An orb captured in a BBC documentary, for example, moved slowly before disappearing. Schwartz and Creath write: “It is not possible to explain orbic objects such as these that move in dynamic and unpredictable paths as being caused by stray reflections. It is also not possible to explain many of them as being caused by dust particles in the air.”

Read more and see more photos here