unknown object near Mars

This object appeared in six of the wide angle photographs I took of Mars
with a camera using a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Because I could not find such a
bright object in any star charts I am guessing it is a lens flare due to
the intense light from Mars. The unknown object is in the exact same
place in all six photos, which would be true for lens flare. Has anyone
got any ideas for this?

Here is a link to a photo:
http://members.cox.net/astrofile/mars07092003/index.htm

--matt

NOW we know where Planet X is!!!


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"Matt" wrote in message
...

This object appeared in six of the wide angle photographs I took of Mars
with a camera using a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Because I could not find such a
bright object in any star charts I am guessing it is a lens flare due to
the intense light from Mars. The unknown object is in the exact same
place in all six photos, which would be true for lens flare. Has anyone
got any ideas for this?

Here is a link to a photo:
http://members.cox.net/astrofile/mars07092003/index.htm

--matt

Looks like a small lightning bug to me, sitting on the lens, facing NE....
TW.




Matt wrote:

This object appeared in six of the wide angle photographs I took of Mars
with a camera using a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Because I could not find such a
bright object in any star charts I am guessing it is a lens flare due to
the intense light from Mars. The unknown object is in the exact same
place in all six photos, which would be true for lens flare. Has anyone
got any ideas for this?

Here is a link to a photo:
http://members.cox.net/astrofile/mars07092003/index.htm

--matt

"Matt" wrote in message
...

This object appeared in six of the wide angle photographs I took of Mars
with a camera using a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Because I could not find such a
bright object in any star charts I am guessing it is a lens flare due to
the intense light from Mars. The unknown object is in the exact same
place in all six photos, which would be true for lens flare. Has anyone
got any ideas for this?

Here is a link to a photo:
http://members.cox.net/astrofile/mars07092003/index.htm

--matt


I like the first shot best...it's an excellent 50mm lens shot. I presume you
used an SLR camera. The contrast with
the Leonid meteor is perfect. As for the "object", it certainly is a
reflection of Mars. The colour is the same.

Its nice to know that Mars is that close at 1X's Mag and clearly indicates
the disc. Imagine hte image at 150 X's !

-Mick

Sorry about the pixel point, I almost forgot about film still being used...
Orion

"Matt" wrote in message
...

This object appeared in six of the wide angle photographs I took of Mars
with a camera using a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Because I could not find such a
bright object in any star charts I am guessing it is a lens flare due to
the intense light from Mars. The unknown object is in the exact same
place in all six photos, which would be true for lens flare. Has anyone
got any ideas for this?

Here is a link to a photo:
http://members.cox.net/astrofile/mars07092003/index.htm

--matt



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I thought it was a cootie...


"bwhiting" wrote

Looks like a small lightning bug to me, sitting on the lens, facing NE....
TW.

I like the first shot best...it's an excellent 50mm lens shot. I presume you
used an SLR camera. The contrast with
the Leonid meteor is perfect.


I seriously doubt that's a Leonid meteor - you can only see those in
November.

I believe there's an Aquarid meteor shower active in late July; it's
much more likely that that meteor was an Aquarid, or an ordinary
sporadic.

Thanks for clearing that up. I am unsure about the different types of
meteors. Got any good web sources?

--matt

Allison Kirkpatrick wrote:


I seriously doubt that's a Leonid meteor - you can only see those in
November.

I believe there's an Aquarid meteor shower active in late July; it's
much more likely that that meteor was an Aquarid, or an ordinary
sporadic.

Allison Kirkpatrick:
I seriously doubt that's a Leonid meteor - you can only see those in
November.

I believe there's an Aquarid meteor shower active in late July; it's
much more likely that that meteor was an Aquarid, or an ordinary
sporadic.

Matt:

Thanks for clearing that up. I am unsure about the different types of
meteors. Got any good web sources?

*****

Seriously, this is not a meteor. I would bet that it is what I said it
is in my earlier post: motion and bloom.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

In article , Davoud wrote:
Matt:
This object appeared in six of the wide angle photographs I took of Mars
with a camera using a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Because I could not find such a
bright object in any star charts I am guessing it is a lens flare due to
the intense light from Mars. The unknown object is in the exact same
place in all six photos, which would be true for lens flare. Has anyone
got any ideas for this?

Here is a link to a photo:
http://members.cox.net/astrofile/mars07092003/index.htm

*****

I think that this is a combination of two phenomena. One is Mars'
motion; it appears that you were tracking the stars. The other is
"bloom," which is the spreading or smearing of images of overexposed
objects on film. The fact that the much dimmer background stars in your
image appear to be well exposed means that Mars had to be overexposed,
leading to the bloom.

Looking at the Unknown Object, bloom sounds plausible to explain
its fuzziness, but Martian motion doesn't explain the track's length of
about 15 arc minutes. Mars is moving much too slowly -- it takes most
of a day to move that far.

If the streak ran east-west, I might wonder if it were a tracked
reflection of a ground-based HPS street lamp, but since it doesn't,
I'll bet on lens flare from Mars, too, Matt. The streak is roughly, but not
very accurately, pointing in the direction of Mars about 5 degrees away.

Stuart Levy