stellar proper-motion and the quasar..

[nytecam]

Two night back [March 4th] I targetted the crescent moon then nearby Mira [oCeti] and a mag 16.8 quasar 0214-033 about 1/2 deg to west of Mira low in the WSW.   The quasar in my 100s exp pic [below] seemed brighter than mag quoted in Megstar but these things do hapeen.   However when I delved deeper via the Sloan DSS [Wikisky] "my quasar" proved a bright field star with the true and blue quasar in virtual contact to the west

!

Then brought up the fields via SIMBAD for Palomar's POSS1 and POSS2 for red and blue plates + Sloan DSS [right margin] and clearly over the Palomar epochs the brighter field star is moving slowly southwards [~PA 170 deg] compared with the remote quasar which we must assume is "truly fixed" @ 3.6 BLY 

I've noted in the past some slight shifts of apparent 'close' stars on my pics compared to old photos but not as obvious as this example so a satisfying result

[Merlin66]

Maurice,

Great catch!!

Attention to detail, and some rigor pays dividends!

Well done.

[nytecam]

Maurice,

Great catch!!

Attention to detail, and some rigor pays dividends!

Well done.

Thanks Ken - perhaps some 'close and fast moving' red-dwarfs like Barnard's Star in Oph worth revisiting.  In the absence of a previous image then an epoched pro photo needed for noting the proper motion against the background starfields.  Might check some out

[Gasman]

Nice one Maurice!. Pretty cool stuff . Amazing what you can do with a Lodestar

Steve

[nytecam]

Nice one Maurice!. Pretty cool stuff . Amazing what you can do with a Lodestar

Steve

Thanks Steve - I get a buzz tracking down extremely remote objects like quasars even if just stellar objects - here's another in Q0721+690 @ 1.4BLY 'high' in Cam @ m16.8 - it's Sp gx NGC 2366 :-)

[Gasman]

Interesting catch Maurice,you tried any spectro on these or maybe they are too faint?. Have you tried the 'Live Capture' video software for the Lodestar yet?. Just noticed it on the discussion software section !

Steve