What is this dark doodad?

[Rob_K]

I was photographing (or attempting to photograph!) comet Lovejoy last night. Anyone got any idea what the dark doodad in my 3 moonlight-affected subs was? Not seen anything like it in subs before, got me stumped. Is it real or what? It appears to have been thereabouts for at least the 10-min period shooting period. Not a thin bit of dark cloud because it appears to move backwards & forwards, apart from the time and the sharp edges. Please don't tell me my camera's stuffing up, eek...
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww271/Rob_Kau/DarkdoodadinLovejoyfieldsm.jpg (http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww271/Rob_Kau/DarkdoodadinLovejoyfieldsm.jpg)

Top-left is unadjusted first frame (each Canon 400D @ 55mm, 2 min, ISO 1600, F/4.5). Others are big contrast adjustments to the three frames. To process the comet shot I selectively brightened the tongue of black in each frame to match the adjoining sky, before stacking. I'm plumping on the side of some weird sort of artefact.

Cheers -

[loomberah]

Maybe an out of focus bit of hair inside the camera?

[Octane]

Or, a spider!

H

[Rob_K]

Thanks guys. Hair sounds good, or something thin crawling over the lens or hanging over the lens & moving. Checked inside the camera - bad mistake to shine a bright torch beam in there, wish I hadn't, LOL. Nothing but a big family of dust bunnies, ouch! :rolleyes: Will see how it shoots tonight if the sky is clear, and track it down further if necessary.

Cheers -

[andyc]

Most likely a hair quite close to the detector - it looks like a smudge I had on a series of images from a mountaineering trip, but that was a dark fuzzy smudge caused by a spot of gunk on the detector of the camera. Be gentle when cleaning it!

BTW, don't let the conspiracy theorists get a hold of your pics, they'll think there's a big dark comet following Lovejoy :eyepop:...

[big_dav_2001]

The little known 'Thingamabob' Dark Nebula.... Lol

Dav

[Liz]

:lol::lol: crossed my mind too as indeed a comet looking shaped body.

[Rob_K]

Thanks Andy - I don't intend to touch the inside of the camera myself but I might get it professionally cleaned if I get an opportunity. Long overdue considering the rough life it's had.

LOL, "The Black Comet of Doom", I can see it now! :lol: If it's going to wipe us out it had better get a hurry up, the Mayan calendar's ending soon! ;) :P

Cheers -