Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 21:25

Hi

Someone very kindly suggested I join and ask for advice following an object that appeared on a photo I took of the sky.

To give you a bit of background. I live in Wigan in the United Kingdom. At approximately 1am on the 30th May this year I was out taking photographs of the night sky. At the end of the session, I set my camera to take a series of 10 photographs, one after the other. Each exposure was set to 5 seconds (I originally thought I'd set it to 6, but just checked the file details!) and each image was taken directly after the one before, barring about half a second whilst the previous image saved.

I was looking towards the tail of the big dipper. On frame 3 of the 10 frames, an object appeared close to Mizar / Alcor (towards the RHS of the images). Frame 4 seems to show just a trace of light. The images before and after seem to show no trace at all.

It's been suggested that the object that's appeared could be a meteor approaching on my line of sight. Or it could be a flare star. I've absolutely no idea....and was really hoping someone could help identify it!

I use a Canon1200d DSLR. Used a standard 18-55mm lense. F5.6, 5 second exposure. ISO set to 6400. I know this produces noise, but the object doesn't appear to be an artifact or anything similar. I've attached frame 1 through 5. Happy to provide the rest if required.

Hopefully someone can help!

Thanks,

Chris

 

 

File Upload
Frame1.JPG7.26 MB
Frame2.JPG7.28 MB
Frame3.JPG7.28 MB
Frame4.JPG7.29 MB
Frame5.JPG7.29 MB
Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Can you mark suspect?

Hello Chris

Can you mark the star of interest, or describe in more detail which one it is.  I did not find it in a short examination.

Gary

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
point-spread function of transient compared to field stars

Hi Chris,

The field stars appear as points embedded inside bright halos, but the transient appears as a streak inside a somewhat elongated halo. This shows that the transient was in motion during the image, so we can rule out a variable star. My best guess is that you caught a reflection from a satellite.

Best Wishes,
Colin

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Suspect Flare Star

Although I am unable to enlarge the screen size of you image to the degree Colin seems to have, I would nevertheless tend to agree with what he has to say concerning your object. The likelihood is that the object in question is a brief reflection off some high polar orbiting satellite, rather than originating with some object in deep space. Large amplitude outbursts of flare stars last much longer then just a few brief seconds.

Reports such as yours are very commonplace on Internet Astronomical Forums these days. There are so many satellites and rocket debris currently in Earth orbit that all manner of odd flashes are visible just about every night. Just this past Thursday night while conducting my variable star program I happen to see a longer duration flare event than yours, but otherwise similar, this one likely off a satellite in geo orbit.

Looking to the unaided eye like a 3rd magnitude motionless star it even startled me for a moment as I watched it shining in OPH for several minutes seemingly unchanged. Given its location and apparent lack of motion, my initial thoughts went to its being a new nova. However, after a time and now using binoculars, I could see that the "star" was absolutely stationary and not sharing in the diurnal motion of the sky. After about 5 minutes the object progressively faded away.

J.Bortle   (BRJ)