The Eastman Kodak Image Laboratory examined this image. The said that ray tracing of the reflections of the tree branches were consistent with an object of that shape and size in that position. The edges indicated no image manipulation and that the camera distance to the object to be about 100 feet. That makes the diameter of the object about 25 feet. The image was recorded on Kodachrome slide film in the late 1970s, many years before the advent of digital photography and digital editors like Photoshop. They declared this image to be authentic.