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Old 06-02-2012, 11:20 PM
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DavidLJ (David)
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Sydney
Posts: 122
Hi Dave. I was intrigued at something in your image of Orion. Something didn't seem quite right. And then it dawned upon me that the bright “star” just to the right of the three belt stars shouldn't be there! Attached is a copy of your image with the “interloper” arrowed. Also attached is a comparison star field taken from SkyTools. But you have clearly captured something there and it appears to be equally as bright as the mag 3.4 star to the right of the bottom of the arrow. So what is it? SkyTools shows no minor planet in that location on 28th Jan. - the night that I believe you took the image. And in any event it's too bright to be a minor planet. But since the “object” is very slightly elongated and since your exposure time was only 15 seconds it must have been moving quickly across the sky. My best guess is that you captured an orbiting satellite as well as Orion's star field.

David
Attached Thumbnails
Click for full-size image (Orion 280112 - 2100 arrowed.jpg)
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Click for full-size image (Orion SkyTools Comparison.jpg)
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