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Mystery star
Hi Mike,
Hmmm ...
The image really isn't much chop and it is therefore difficult to draw any firm conclusions. My suspicion is that it is an artifact of some sort. The few other star images in the picture are trailed (elongated) in roughly the same PA as the mystery object is from the super-bright star, so my first thought is that it is likely non-existant.
One would expect it to be a little brighter if it were an extragalactic supernova (maybe about mag 11.5???) given the proximity of this galaxy. The star above the super-bright one near the top of the frame is GSC 8444:1155 at mag 13.5 (+/-0.4) and it seems as bright if not brighter than the alleged interloper.
Have you checked for asteroids?
There is no _known_ Milky Way variable star at the position.
Time to take another image me-thinks ...
Best,
Les D
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