What is this??? I was taking photos for star trails last night. As I was going through the photos this morning, I came across a very strange photo. I have no idea what it is in the...

lwhitlow

I was taking photos for star trails last night. As I was going through the photos this morning, I came across a very strange photo. I have no idea what it is in the sky, but hoping someone else might know. My camera was set for 1 minute exposures with 1 second delay between them. The object in question isn't in the previous photo or on the photo that was after. I don't think it could be a plane - if so - it is a very drunk pilot. It is like a squiggly line going up and then going out. I don't know if I can add all three photos on one topic - so you can compare or not. The first photo is before - then 1 second delay with the second photo (the one in question) - then 1 second delay and the last photo - all three photos with 1 minutes exposure time. Thanks for any input - I'm really curious now as to what it is.

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frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Jet?

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Certainly not a plane. Although you do have the marker light trail of an aircraft in your first image at ~ 6 O'clock. Downloaded, then zoomed in, bingo!
Hard to say what the anomaly is, but I see where it begins in the trees, or appears too. And I doubt anybody was shooting rockets off out there.
I'm wondering if a piece of lint briefly attached then dropped away. Or was wiped onto your cameras sensor, then wiped away when the shutter cycled.

But Planes and Satellites leave distinct markers in your timed exposures. Planes leave (normally) straight dotted lines. Satellites leave straight white lines because they are illuminated by Sunlight. (And satellites do not have marker lights required by aircraft.) And the ISS leaves a very stark white trail at our usual night sky exposure times. I got lucky one night trying to image the planets aligned, and got the ISS flying over.

I use Stellarium to proof the ISS passed at the time these series of images were taken.
https://youtu.be/q0g8NtinLtk

So I'm going with the lint theory.

If you have an otherwise good run of images, just drop that one from your stack.

lwhitlow

SonnyE wrote:

Certainly not a plane. Although you do have the ma... (show quote)

Thank you. I had someone on another site caught that it was also from the ground up. I had not caught that. I only saw from the horizon and up. Thinking it might be a firefly or another type of flying insect. I did see several of them on the ground where I was seated, but didn’t see any of them flying. Also, a piece of lint is also an interesting prospect.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

lwhitlow wrote:

Thank you. I had someone on another site caught that it was also from the ground up. I had not caught that. I only saw from the horizon and up. Thinking it might be a firefly or another type of flying insect. I did see several of them on the ground where I was seated, but didn’t see any of them flying. Also, a piece of lint is also an interesting prospect.

I don't think it could be a piece of lint. Stuff blocking the sensor makes things darker. And this lighter. And I don't think it is some kid shooting of a model rocket as I see no bright rocket exhaust. And does originate in front of the trees.

Lining up the 3rd image on the left and the 2nd image on the right, I can see how much actual time there was between images. In the 3rd image, I counted 41 flashes in the 1 minute exposure. This works out to be about 1.5 sec per flash. Using the background stars, I figure there is room for about 3 flashes during the time between exposures. This is about 4.5 sec. Whatever this is, it must have happened rapidly and does seem to have dissipated rapidly.

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Fotoserj Loc: St calixte Qc Ca

Where was it taken, I suspect away from a major city, a plane on takeoff following ATCdirective

lwhitlow

Fotoserj wrote:

Where was it taken, I suspect away from a major city, a plane on takeoff following ATCdirective

The photo was taken in a field just outside of Spencer, IN, on a campground of over 300+ hours.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

lwhitlow wrote:

The photo was taken in a field just outside of Spencer, IN, on a campground of over 300+ hours.

Not sure what you mean by over 300+ hours. Maybe you meant camp sites? Could some kids have launched a model rocket? Although, when my son used to do it, I don't remember such a curvy trajectory. Seems like it went straight up.

lwhitlow

JimH123 wrote:

Not sure what you mean by over 300+ hours. Maybe you meant camp sites? Could some kids have launched a model rocket? Although, when my son used to do it, I don't remember such a curvy trajectory. Seems like it went straight up.

Sorry - I meant 300+ acres.

haze63 Loc: Tiffin Ohio

Did someone set off any fireworks?
Or one of them model rockets?
Looks like a smoke trail from something like that.

lwhitlow

haze63 wrote:

Did someone set off any fireworks?
Or one of them model rockets?
Looks like a smoke trail from something like that.

No fireworks or model rockets. It is still on the camp property and my husband is the manager and they would have to clear through him before doing anything like that. Plus, I wasn’t sitting too far from the area where it was and I would definitely know if it were either of those. 😊

gekko11 Loc: Las Cruces NM

looks like some kind of insect to me, perhaps a moth?

haze63 Loc: Tiffin Ohio

The only reason I say that is because it looks like a smoke trail and you can see where it is even in the trees.

lwhitlow

gekko11 wrote:

looks like some kind of insect to me, perhaps a moth?

That is what most of everyone else is saying. It is probably a mystery that will never be completely solved - but glad I captured it - whatever it was.

lwhitlow

haze63 wrote:

The only reason I say that is because it looks like a smoke trail and you can see where it is even in the trees.

I know - it is definitely a mystery:-)