Zehrt UFO

Perhaps [Zehrt's] most mysterious photograph is one that hasn't been doctored at all. He made it on the night of Aug. 29, 1992, by pointing his camera into the sky and opening its wide-field lens for five hours.

The straight, bright lines that streak across the image came from stars and planets. But a long, curved streak--with a bright head at one end--remains unexplained.

Zehrt asked several experts around the world for their opinion about the object. Their responses ranged from completely uncertain to guesses that it was a weather balloon, satellite, commercial airplane, meteor or asteroid. Some responded that it could be none of those because the streak is curved and the light remains unbroken.

One expert suggested, yes, the streak might have been caused by a UFO. Another gently broached the idea that Zehrt had inadvertently marked the film. Zehrt responded, laughing: "After 30 years [of photography], I don't know a scratch on my film?"

The answer to the mystery may never surface. But Zehrt plans to keep his eyes--and camera--pointed into the sky, making special photographs.

William Allen, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Magazine, Oct. 13, 1996