Explained: Gimbal UFO rotation caused by ...a Gimbal!

The Gimbal UFO video seems to show a rotating flying saucer. However, the shape really just looks like the IR glare of a distant jet engine. But why is it rotating? The reason seems to be to do with the ATFLIR camera system which is mounted in a way that restricts rotation and forces the field of view to rotate when tracking left to right. This is then “derotated“ internally. But this rotation of the optical system causes optical effects, forcing the shape of the glare to rotate when the horizon does not. This rotation problem gets far worse at very shallow angles, so it’s particularly noticeable in the Gimbal case as that’s just 2° down. The fact that the artifact is caused by the camera’s gimbal system is probably why the military called the video “Gimbal“