Helix intruder.

[TimberLand (Justin)]

I was just processing some of my Helix RGB from the night of the 10 and saw a dim object moving slowly though the image. You can see it as the RGB line in the top left corner, I started the image run at 10.24pm and finished at 12.31 am on the 11th.

Any ideas out there of what it is, I know it is most likely a well known solar system object, it appears in the fits files as a moving point source about as bright as the three stars near by.

Thoughts

Justin

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

Nothing shows at that time on Starry Night Pro plus. Bear in mind, SNPP is a geocentric view not topocentric. Could be a geostationary satellite

[Lee]

Couldn't be a geostationary satellite - that should move through the frame at a sidereal rate. This one has barely budged in 2hrs. A faint asteroid/comet perhaps?

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Have to wonder if it could be a new asteroid or comet waiting to be discovered. I feel your frustration not knowing what it is!

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Originally Posted by TimberLand

I was just processing some of my Helix RGB from the night of the 10 and saw a dim object moving slowly though the image. You can see it as the RGB line in the top left corner, I started the image run at 10.24pm and finished at 12.31 am on the 11th.

Any ideas out there of what it is, I know it is most likely a well known solar system object, it appears in the fits files as a moving point source about as bright as the three stars near by.

Thoughts

Justin

Hi Justin,

Could be a hot pixel, I had a similar situation imaging Eta Carina. It looked like a point source moving though the field.
The best way is to check where the point source is in each frame, if it's in the same position it's probably a hot pixel that wasn't removed in processing. This means there was slight drift between exposures.

Of course if does change position, it may be an asteroid. Checked in Guide8 and there doesn't appear to be anything within 1.4 deg for the date time given.

Worth following up.

Cheers,

Justin.

[TimberLand (Justin)]

Looks like it is UR25B3C and I'm the 24th person to see it (if I have read the table correctly) and it will be at RA 21 43 55.0 Dec -20 43 28 at 11.00 pm on the 14th. I'm a bit rusty at this as I haven't done much observing or imaging for a while, thanks all for helping me kick my brain back into gear. The Minor Planet Centre helped identify the interloper.

Bugger in a way and wow in another. At least I'm not seeing things.

All suggestions were worth extra thought and thanks for looking up the coordinates on the various planetarium packages, as my best one is on an iPad and not good at that sort of thing.

Justin

[Lee]

Sounds significant.... That damn helix got in the way of a great minor planet pic!

[johnnyt123 (John)]

Here it is...

This was taken 10min ago. single frame 1000sec in Hydrogen alpha.

the object has moved significantly since you first imaged it.

An asteroid perhaps???

John