8 replies to this topic

[Phil Perry]

On December 14 at 21:10 EST I was playing with my Seestar S50, seeing if I could reliably control it from inside (since it was 17F/-8c). I took a 10 minute exposure of M76 (with LP filter). A day or so later, when I downloaded the images, I saw something strange below and to the right of M76 that I hadn't noticed during the capture. Attached is a detail including M76 and this object.

 

It looks rather odd to be a comet (no coma, a large kink in the tail). Is/was there one in this area? Could it have been a meteor (that perhaps broke up and swerved)? This was the last image I took that night, and it's been cloudy since. I don't see any hair or dust on the lens. It doesn't look much like a satellite or an airplane. As the Moon was almost Full, I was using my pop-in dew shield (not the heater). Anyone have an idea of what this is? Thanks!

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[RichA]

Curious bent streak or tail.  A comet did pass the nebula, but in 2014.

[TOMDEY]

Interesting... but considering the scale of the field... I believe that the width and curvature of the tail is way too bent and skinny to be a comet. Did you do exactly one 10m solo exposure...  or more? If it's just one, the opportunity for confirmation gets slim. By all means image the region again. With a single exposure only, it remains in the "questionable" bin for now... could be anything up there or (more likely) in your equipment, until/if confirmed by one or more exposures --- hopefully showing motion.        Tom

[scopewizard]

I tracked this to a satellite Fengyun 1c Deb.

 

I would need your Lat and Long to be more accurate but it is very close.

Edited by scopewizard, 19 December 2024 - 02:34 AM.

[Phil Perry]

Being from a Seestar, it's a stack of 60 x 10s exposures. I don't have the individual frames. It's been very cloudy, but the next clear-ish night I'll try again. It's very possible this was something in/on my equipment, and no one else has seen it -- if it's really up there, I would think someone else would have reported it by now. Always possible it was a minute piece of something that drifted out of the trees, although it has since fallen off the lens. It couldn't have been an insect -- far too cold.

 

My lat/lon is 42°1'N 74°12'W if that helps to narrow it down. Would a satellite change course like that?

 

That frame I posted is a 196x306 crop of the 1080x1920 original (not rescaled). The exposure stack started at 21:01:38 and ended at 21:11:38.

Edited by Phil Perry, 19 December 2024 - 12:03 PM.

[Love Cowboy]

Curious bent streak or tail.  A comet did pass the nebula, but in 2014.

now there's a blast from the past.  If memory serves, I was actually looking for M76 when I accidentally chanced upon that comet.  I mused to myself that Charles Messier must be turning in his grave seeing me accidentally find a comet while looking for one of his objects, since he had created the list to assist people running into his objects while looking for comets!

[scopewizard]

After entering your info, I was not able to find a satellite close enough to the object track in your image.

[TxStars]

Looks like an airplane wing light...

[Phil Perry]

Looks like an airplane wing light...

I would expect an aircraft light, whether steady or strobe, to be a lot brighter (and more intermittent trail if strobed). I would also expect if it were far enough away to be that dim, that I should see the whole aircraft and other lights on it (possibly including window lights and illuminated tail) and not just the one light. It's not impossible that it's an aircraft light, but I doubt it.