To clear things up, following some off-list discussions as well as
information provided on the Ice in Space forum, this is not an image of a
meteor. It is, in fact, an image of the star beta Octans, very near the
south celestial pole. The surrounding stars are readily identifiable using a
star chart or planetarium program. The image was made by tracking on the
star for part of the exposure, and then slewing away from it. Other star
trails are not seen because the other stars are more than 100 times dimmer
than beta Octans.
Beta Octans is located 60° from the imager's target, NGC253. It is certainly
difficult to explain how he could have made this error, since he explicitly
says that he made 10-minute images of NGC253 both immediately before and
after this supposedly aborted 9-second image. A 60° slew away from and back
to a target is pretty hard to overlook...
Chris
*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jason Utas" <[email protected]>
To: "Meteorite-list" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 2:28 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Aussie Photographs Meteor Through
Telescope:NOT
Hola All,
It's a nine-second exposure - why not a satellite? I don't know if a
long-term exposure of a satellite would result in a "wiggly" line, but
if it is as Elton says, possibly the result of the photographic
equipment used - well, any thoughts?
Regards,
Jason
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