Comet in Orion Nebula?

[lil_coz]

Hey all,

I was out doing some AP in the tail end of December, and when it came to processing some images I took of the Orion Nebula, I noticed something top right. My first thought was, "Is it a comet?" The exposures range from 15s to about 40s. Take a look and let me know what you think...

Or maybe a UFO? lol

Thanks for looking

[JB80]

Looks more like a geo synchronous satellite to me.

[Sandancer10]

Hi, and a nice image of Orion. I think it is something like elongation at the edge of image due to distortion. A field flattener would sort it out.  

[lil_coz]

Looks more like a geo synchronous satellite to me.

I thought that, but don't they move quite quickly through the sky? These were taken at about 00:30

Hi, and a nice image of Orion. I think it is something like elongation at the edge of image due to distortion. A field flattener would sort it out.  

If that was the case, would it not be with all the stars? Also, the image shifts to the right with each successive image, and it is longer or shorter depending on the exposure. So whatever it is, it's moving across the sky surely?

[JB80]

A normal satellite would move quite fast yes but a geosync one stays in a orbit the same as the Earth so if the move it is only very short distances.

I think you can look them up on Calsky.com but I'm not sure where to start.

[lil_coz]

Ah, OK. The difference between the first and last pic is like 2 mins. So it's not moving fast across the sky.

[lil_coz]

I've just gone on the website to backtrack and find out what it was. Picture was taken on the 27th Dec 2013 at 00:29 (first pic) and 00:31 (last pic)

[jnb]

Ah, OK. The difference between the first and last pic is like 2 mins. So it's not moving fast across the sky.

In which time it appears to have moved from 5h34m to 5h36m RA (very rough estimate). Which is spot on for geosynchronous but would translate to a velocity of lots and lots for something at a typical comet's distance.

[lil_coz]

Mystery solved then! It was just one of those things when flicking through the pictures and it was a case of "What the hell is that?!" lol

[jnb]

And just to add another confirming fact geosynch orbit is about 40000 km, if you are at about 50° N and something is exactly above the equator that would work out as about 7.5° S (very rough back of envelope calculation) what you saw was about declination 6°S.

[lil_coz]

lol. That's quite impressive for "back of envelope" stuff lol. For me, that would be calculators, pieces of paper everywhere, books open and lots of head scratching lol.

I've just had a look on in-the-sky.org at the same date and time and got this.....

Close enough for me! There we have it. Stattelite it is

[davefrance]

lol. That's quite impressive for "back of envelope" stuff lol. For me, that would be calculators, pieces of paper everywhere, books open and lots of head scratching lol.

I've just had a look on in-the-sky.org at the same date and time and got this.....

Close enough for me! There we have it. Stattelite it is

Your reference to in the sky.org prompted me to revisit a topic I started few weeks ago but never really resolved. I have just gone back to 21.06 January 13th to check satellite positions but there are none anywhere near the moon so another hope bites the dust. http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/205328-moonshine-puzzle/ anyone any further ideas or experienced something similar.  

[wxsatuser]

If my Stellarium is correct, it may have been LUCH 5B.

A large 1.5tonne Russian relay sat that sits over the Atlantic.

You caught it as Orion drifted past it.