What is this....?

[stan26]

Hi Guys, (at the risk of asking a really dumb question)

What is this object in my Image...?

At the end of last nights Orion wide imaging session I swung the camera across to capture a rather "defracted" Mars traversing the Leo constellation, thinking it would make an interesting Image, However whilst processing the short amount of data I captured I notice a strange almost comet shape looking nebula to the right of the triplet. I have looked on stellarium and at various images on the net but to no avail......?

Can some one tell me what it is...?

Stan

[Stargazer Jack]

Looks like a comet but I am probably wrong. Hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge will know.

[NickK]

Nothing stands out much in Aladin Simbad; certainly not on that scale for DSO.

[jgs001]

I'm guessing this was with the 200mm... it might be an internal reflection/lens flare artefact caused by Mars.. There's no EXIF data, but based on the scale, I'm guessing that was the 200mm

[stan26]

Hi john, yes was with 200mm lens at f4. Internal reflection could be the answer but I'm not totally convinced.....

I'm almost tempted to bolt on the st102 and give this area an hour or so to see what's revealed! Intriguing really.

Stan

[Stargazer Jack]

Could also see if anyone else have imaged that area tonight and see if that got it or not

[Jannis]

i'd say the same, only lens flare from the bright planet, i get them all the time too...

[RikM]

I have had my 10" on Mars and the triplet for the past few hours and I didn't see anything. I checked again after seeing your image but I still can't see anything there. Heavens Above have no comets listed as visible in that area so my guess would be an optical effect too.