unexplained light??

[wilkie]

Hi,

let me get one out there first.

i am as novice as they come, so i'm fully expecting a simple answer at my dumb question, but i have no idea what this is so here i am.

last night, i found myself looking up at the stars thinking now is the night to bust out the camera and start taking my first night shots, learning the settings and how to get the best shots.

i wasn't focusing on anything inparticular, just point and shoot for 5-10-15 second exposures and to see if the setting i have come out well.

all was pretty striaght forward, was initially amazed to see so many more stars than you see with the naked eye. wow

i did happen to catch something on one of my shots that i can't explain.

i've uploaded a Jpeg file called Reference image. where i point to a green light in frame.

i have also attached 4 jpegs files named 5,10,15 and 20 second exposure.

in each picture you'll see the stars and Jupiter in the same shot moving slightly due to the roatation of the earth. normal day in space there.

you'll also see the start trails getting more like a dash than a dot, due to the time of exposure.

you'll also see that this green dot does not move. does not follow the stars round with the earths roation but yet also the trail matches those of the starts around it.

i've discounted that it was mear dust or a mark on the lens as none of the before or after shots have it.

its not a plane as it would be a lot longer star trail over 5, 10, 15 or 20 seconds.

can anyone shed any thoughts on what this is?

is it light reflecting from somewhere on the ground?

i'm baffled to what it is.

as i said, very novice

thanks

[Laurie61]

Hi, it looks like lens flare to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_flare 

[Alien 13]

A green artifact is usually light from the internal surface of uv filter well thats my guess anyway.

Alan

[wilkie]

would you not get lens flare on other shots?

and why would the trials match the same as the stars?

[Langy]

You could use Stellarium (free download) to try and rule out its not a star etc, or you could also upload the image to http://nova.astrometry.net/ also a group in Flickr where objects will all be referenced.

Just a different approach as you have captured so may objects.