What is this next to jupiter?

[russp]

Took this last tuesday - Jupiter with the beehive cluster (astrobin link http://astrob.in/176320/0/) but I'm wondering what the blue thing next to jupiter is - some sort of odd lens artifact? I was taken with a 50mm lens on a crop sensor dslr piggy backed on my scope - 20 30sec frames combined and stretched in pixinsight and post processed in photoshop

[dweller25]

I think its an optical or processing artifact.

[Scooot]

NGC 2749 ?

The star cluster in your image seems to match the one around NGC 2749 in the image from deep sky browser and is in the same place on sky safari.

[russp]

NGC 2749 ?

The star cluster in your image seems to match the one around NGC 2749 in the image from deep sky browser and is in the same place on sky safari.

It's certainly in the right place according to the astrobin plate solving but it just looked too bright/defined? I did wonder if perhaps it was a combination of the 3 or 4 galaxies all very close at that point.

[Scooot]

It's certainly in the right place according to the astrobin plate solving but it just looked too bright/defined? I did wonder if perhaps it was a combination of the 3 or 4 galaxies all very close at that point.

Yes I thought it looked too bright as well and perhaps too big. The DSS photos is in a 10' x 10' square. Maybe the light from the galaxies has somehow caused the optical or processing artefact. Interesting none the less

[Pete Presland]

Looks a little like the internal reflection in this image I took tonight while checking my focus. Your image does seem to be a little harshly stretched with some artefacts around some of the brighter stars.

[JamesF]

Is the artefact in all of the frames, or just one of them?

James

[lukebl]

It's undoubtedly an internal reflection in the optics. Inevitable when imaging something as bright as Jupiter.

[russp]

Thanks - I'm going with internal reflection (made worse in processing) - Not sure the picture is worth the effort to remove it