A comet?
Dec 28, 2019 12:37:44 #
saidel42
Loc: NJ
The Geminid meteor shower of 2019 (Dec 13) was a bust here in NJ...cloudy and rain as the weatherman predicted. Knowing the bad weather I went out the 12th to maybe capture some meteors despite the almost full moon. Took lots of 20 sec exposure images (Rokinon 14mm, f2.8, ISO 5000, 20 secs), until more clouds rolled in; drank my hot chocolate and went home about 1:30AM.
I ignored the images until last weekend and then started to play with them. The top image shows how bright the base exposures were with the moon in the upper right. Using some photoshop skills, I took the top image and treated it a few different ways (changing level mostly ) until I had the bottom image when I looked closely at a bright spot to the lower left of the moon. Sure enough, I think that object is a comet. Not a beauty like in a telescope but certainly real. I know it is real because all the comet images over ~1 1/2 hrs had moved in one direction when I stacked them. Serendipity is a real pleasure.
Does anyone know the name of this object and/or suggest how I might enhance it even more than I did?
Looking forward to your answers. Happy New Year all.
I ignored the images until last weekend and then started to play with them. The top image shows how bright the base exposures were with the moon in the upper right. Using some photoshop skills, I took the top image and treated it a few different ways (changing level mostly ) until I had the bottom image when I looked closely at a bright spot to the lower left of the moon. Sure enough, I think that object is a comet. Not a beauty like in a telescope but certainly real. I know it is real because all the comet images over ~1 1/2 hrs had moved in one direction when I stacked them. Serendipity is a real pleasure.
Does anyone know the name of this object and/or suggest how I might enhance it even more than I did?
Looking forward to your answers. Happy New Year all.
Dec 29, 2019 07:07:27 #
Not too sure how hard you want to work to identify your "unknown"
I don't think you have enough stars in this picture but if you can build a star mask and then try to darken the sky to reveal more stars....then use astronomy net http://nova.astrometry.net/upload you may be able to platesolve it. Then with the dec and ra address......bring up your planetarium program and back it up to the date and time you took the pic - dial in the dec and ra address and you just may have a name for it. If you use Starry Nights or Sky Safari pro probably will have a name for it. Not sure about Stellarium or Cartes du Ciel.
....but the fun is in the trying!
The easier thing to do is to keep posting on different forums...someone smarter than most of us will nail it.
I don't think you have enough stars in this picture but if you can build a star mask and then try to darken the sky to reveal more stars....then use astronomy net http://nova.astrometry.net/upload you may be able to platesolve it. Then with the dec and ra address......bring up your planetarium program and back it up to the date and time you took the pic - dial in the dec and ra address and you just may have a name for it. If you use Starry Nights or Sky Safari pro probably will have a name for it. Not sure about Stellarium or Cartes du Ciel.
....but the fun is in the trying!
The easier thing to do is to keep posting on different forums...someone smarter than most of us will nail it.
Dec 29, 2019 09:08:48 #
Dec 29, 2019 09:41:13 #
saidel42
Loc: NJ
alberio wrote:
The closest one I found is 155P/Shoemaker 155P
Alberio, I have to thank you. How did you identify it? I'm obviously newish to serious astrophotography and am learning as fast as I can. What sequence of steps did you take to come up with a tentative id? That is, if you have the time.
Again, I am indebted to you. Thanks and happy new year.
Bill
Dec 29, 2019 10:38:08 #
saidel42 wrote:
Alberio, I have to thank you. How did you identify it? I'm obviously newish to serious astrophotography and am learning as fast as I can. What sequence of steps did you take to come up with a tentative id? That is, if you have the time.
Again, I am indebted to you. Thanks and happy new year.
Bill
Again, I am indebted to you. Thanks and happy new year.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I'm not entirely sure if it is the one, but I just used my Mobile Observatory app and scrolled to the approximate date and time you were out. Shoemaker 155P might be too faint for you to have picked it up with the bright moon. I so far haven't found a brighter one. Charlie
Dec 29, 2019 14:48:02 #
Ballard
Loc: Grass Valley, California
Judging from the position of the moon on Dec 13 in your photo, this is about the correct location for comet Borisov. Discovered by an Amateur (Gennady Borisov) in August and on a hyperbolic orbit, so it will be a one time visitor to this neck of the woods. But I don't think Comet Borisov would have been bright enough to image during the full moon. So it is a bit of a mystery as to what this actually was.
See this Sky and Telescope article on it.
https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/will-amateurs-be-able-to-see-the-new-interstellar-comet/
See this Sky and Telescope article on it.
https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/will-amateurs-be-able-to-see-the-new-interstellar-comet/
Dec 29, 2019 15:44:51 #
Nice! You seem to be getting there, keep trying!
It is often very hard to catch comets.
I use Stellarium and sometimes Alex has them updated in it.
I didn't see it in my current version I'm using, but maybe the web version would. Because it is a very new comet.
https://stellarium-web.org/
I have captured comets in the past. I suggest you stick with it and shoot a series. Often I can find things I would have missed by reviewing series' of images. Like the Perseid Meteor shower. I didn't see a blessed one, until I reviewed my DSLR frames shooting through a wide angle lens overnight. (I slept, my camera did not.)
The Comet Catalina
Comet 41P Tuttle Giacobini Kresak
If you watch these, I suggest you go to Full Screen mode in YouTube.
It is often very hard to catch comets.
I use Stellarium and sometimes Alex has them updated in it.
I didn't see it in my current version I'm using, but maybe the web version would. Because it is a very new comet.
https://stellarium-web.org/
I have captured comets in the past. I suggest you stick with it and shoot a series. Often I can find things I would have missed by reviewing series' of images. Like the Perseid Meteor shower. I didn't see a blessed one, until I reviewed my DSLR frames shooting through a wide angle lens overnight. (I slept, my camera did not.)
The Comet Catalina
Comet 41P Tuttle Giacobini Kresak
If you watch these, I suggest you go to Full Screen mode in YouTube.
Dec 31, 2019 08:57:43 #
saidel42
Loc: NJ
To all,
Thank you for the numerous thoughtful comments. I did decide to push identifying the object in my initial post and contacted an astronomer at Rutgers-New Brunswick campus. That was a terrific thing to do. He went through lots of arguments of different sorts to conclude that it probably represents some kind of internal glass to glass reflection within the lens. Basic argument: no known comet at that location at that and it was too bright to have been ignored if there were one there.
So I manually stacked 5 images together representing 30 minutes. I used 2 nearby stars seen in all images as my central point for overlaying the images. The other stars clearly rotated to the left of my supposed 'comet object' clearly, yet the comet objects only aligned in an up and down pattern. The moon's movement was down to up. That is a serious clue to me that the object represents some light rays not symmetrically passing through the lens.
It is nice to know as a chagrined scientist, I can make interesting errors and simultaneously still have naive "I wish" thoughts.
Happy New Year all.
Bill
Thank you for the numerous thoughtful comments. I did decide to push identifying the object in my initial post and contacted an astronomer at Rutgers-New Brunswick campus. That was a terrific thing to do. He went through lots of arguments of different sorts to conclude that it probably represents some kind of internal glass to glass reflection within the lens. Basic argument: no known comet at that location at that and it was too bright to have been ignored if there were one there.
So I manually stacked 5 images together representing 30 minutes. I used 2 nearby stars seen in all images as my central point for overlaying the images. The other stars clearly rotated to the left of my supposed 'comet object' clearly, yet the comet objects only aligned in an up and down pattern. The moon's movement was down to up. That is a serious clue to me that the object represents some light rays not symmetrically passing through the lens.
It is nice to know as a chagrined scientist, I can make interesting errors and simultaneously still have naive "I wish" thoughts.
Happy New Year all.
Bill
Dec 31, 2019 10:15:41 #
saidel42 wrote:
To all, br Thank you for the numerous thoughtful... (show quote)
Not like I've never had a UFO moment. You think to yourself, should I report this very obvious target or not. Thanks for the update. I have a lens that puts comets on all the stars at the edges.
Dec 31, 2019 11:21:14 #
Well, not to worry, there are many things out there yet to be discovered.
Makes things interesting.
Meanwhile, I did find this about the latest comet.
Borisov https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7498
Makes things interesting.
Meanwhile, I did find this about the latest comet.
Borisov https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7498
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