(Viewed 514 times)

[plipinski]

Hi there, my name's Paul and I'm an astrophotoholic (Hi, Paul!). I'm from the Chicago suburbs and even though I don't really have the equipment for it, I like to grab shots of the sky whenever I can.

I'm a total newbie when it comes to astrophotography, so please bear that in mind when I confuse you with the vague, confusing, and uninformed descriptions below.

I went out tonight to try and take some photos of Jupiter with my Nikon D90, since it's at opposition. Started taking a few test shots and noticed a green blob underneath Jupiter, not visible to the naked eye. I didn't think much of it as I continued to set up. A few more test shots though, and I noticed it had already moved significantly! Upon further inspection, I noticed it appeared to have a tail that was pointing away from the sun. I was thinking 'comet', but it was moving quite fast... In the 6 minutes that my photos span, it flared, moved perhaps the distance of a ruler held at arms length, and faded out. So that left me confused as to what it actually is!

I put a little animation of my frames together that includes all the information I have available. My exact latitude and longitude, along with the exact date and time the shots were taken (I compared the EXIF data in my camera to the atomic clock in Boulder, Colorado and made the necessary corrections; the times should be accurate to the nearest second). I'm hoping that's enough info, coupled with the position of Jupiter and other stars in the pictures, to identify the object. I just took the shots a few hours ago, this is the first place I've gone to ask about it. If there's somewhere better for this or I'm posting in the wrong forum, please let me know!

My animation. Jupiter goes blurry in the second half due to it falling behind a tree:



I have the 6 original pictures up at Flickr. They can be viewed here:

www.flickr.com/photos/plipinski/sets/72157621918821181/

Thanks in advance!

-Paul

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Paul,

Thanks for posting this and it is an usual object indeed.

I don't know what it could be.

First, the image of Jupiter is good. At 3200 ISO, shouldn't the noise be greater than what is represented?

The green is odd. Although it looks like a comet, it's traveling too fast in relation to the other objects around. It's elongated at first, but then resolves itself into a sphere. Almost looks like a galaxy as well.

Not a bug, plane or something close...and it is taking it's time.

Asteroid perhaps? A satellite would have a different light signature.

For now....you have captured a UFO.

Cool!

[plipinski]

Thanks for the reply!

The shots were literally some of my first test shots during my setup to take pictures of Jupiter; I wasn't set up optimally at all. I was still in JPG mode, and noise reduction was on. The JPG compression and noise reduction coupled with the GIF conversion probably smoothed out the noise quite a bit. There were a few hot pixels I removed in the animation as well, just so as to not to distract from the object. They're still in the larger pictures at flickr. The D90 has great low light performance though!

The only thing that comes to mind is that we're still so near to the Perseids... Perhaps a bit floating by? It would have to have been a big piece indeed to give off a tail of its own though, so I doubt it.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Paul,

I do not believe that is any Perseid remnant.

Too slow and too big of a mass I say. A mystery to be solved.

But, share some more of your astrophotography with us as you complete you sessions. I'd like to see them.