Very peculiar image from this morning.

[bkm2304]

Hello all,

Like every other nerd with a camera I was out last night snapping Lemmon when I thought I would have a go at Crux. This is a photo of Beta Crucis and the Jewel Box - and something I can't understand.

The intricacy of its pattern suggests repeated turning and then a wide loop or maybe this happened first. I didn't see this - although it was probably bright enough to see - because I had gone inside to get a torch.

I immediately took another shot under same conditions 3 minutes later - it was nowhere to be seen.

The area I was shooting from was dark - a farm environment, no street lights, no fireflies, nothing obvious to add to this to explain the result.

Could this be a satellite launch/deployment gone wrong?

Any suggestions?

Details are:

Picture taken at approx 12:59am EDT 5/4/13

Lens: AF-S DX VR Nikkor 55-300mm 4.5-5.6G ED

Camera: Nikon D40 on tripod

Exposure: 70.0 S at 220mm F5.6 ISO 3200 with inbuilt noise reduction on.


Richard

[bkm2304]

THis is a higher res crop.

[mithrandir]

Somebody with a laser pointer? The colour is odd for a laser, but if you have any filters or post-processed the image it could be that.

[bkm2304]

Then at approx 1.15am, this slow moving satellite split the pointers going northwards and faded away. I wonder if it has anything to do with the above?

Same camera specs but 40 S exposure and 125mm zoom

Richard

[bkm2304]

Possibly, but not a soul around here - we live surrounded by 10,000 Ha of National Park on 3 sides of us.

[Johno]

My first thought was a geosynchronous satellite but it's probably in the wrong part of the sky, and probably too erratic.

[Johno]

It looks the same colour as Beta Crucis and the motion looks like camera wobble. I can't explain why there aren't other similar patterns though. Perhaps while the camera was doing its noise subtraction?

[von Tom]

Very interesting Richard! It does seem to be some camera movement, but why would it only show up on Beta Crucis? I took the liberty of combining the two images. Assuming it's a camera movement between frames, it seems to match the displacement of Beta Crucis between the two images.

[bkm2304]

Yes, the simplest explanation is usually the right one. And b crucis is by far the brightest star so only it shows up in the trace of the wobble. I moved the camera between images to look at the screen so the displacement is me.

Which only serves to deepen my mystery; what bumped the camera while I was inside? Sneaky possums? Wily wallabies? I don't know!
Thanks

Richard

[Scorpius51]

Iridium flare???:shrug:

[Limax7]

Make movie from individuals frames and we will see ;)

[LewisM]

Several possibilities.

Laser pointer. Just because you are surrounded by a couple million hectares of NP doesn't mean someone isn't IN the NP either doing astronomy themselves, or up to something else.

Bugs. I have taken bug trails before in the darkest conditions. You'd be surprised.

Tripod movement. Unless you have an ultra rock steady tripod, even a good mini gust of wind can d this. Or something bumped it, or even a slight ground vibration (heavy enough vehicle) or...

Aliens. Yup, those little green boogers are doing aerobatics in space. Saw you imaging on B Crucis, and thought, let's screw his mind :) :)

[stardust steve]

Intriguing for sur. I have an unexplained image myself that I was meaning to post on IIS. Will do it soon. I love anomalies in images :)

[Derek Klepp]

Celestial Spiders! Its these things that make it all that little more interesting.

[jsmoraes]

The pattern of movement let me think about bug. Are there glow worm at your site ? At mine, I have some problems with them. I always lose frames because them.

[bkm2304]

Thanks, all.

I do think now that it was movement of the tripod because as has been pointed out on the thread:
1. The colour is the same as B Crucis
2. The position is right next to B Crucis so a shudder would show up next to it
3. B Crucis is by far the brightest star in the field so it is the only one with enough photons to show the drama of a shudder.
4. There is a large sweep - the initial "bump" and then a series of reducing squiggles as it settled.

I think the mystery is solved - pity!

Though you might like to have a look at this thing I saw (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=84287) a while back which proved to be real! Astroron sorted it!

Thanks again for all your wisdom!:thanx:

Richard

[Astroman]

ET Drunk behind the wheel of his new Sportster UFO :D

Yes looks like camera shake on the brighter star, try brightening up the image with levels and see if yu can find a repeat of the pattern on one of the other stars.

[Peter Ward]

No mystery here.

London-to-a-brick the tripod/camera got bumped.

[bindibadgi]

If you look closely, the bright star on the left also exhibits the pattern to some extent.