We tried out our new esprit150 refractor on M51 on Saturday evening. We had a few issues but when we processed the image we spotted something that does not appear on internet "stock" pictures.
when enlarged it still looks like a star but would welcome comments (we cannot be that lucky surely!)
Attachments:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 M51Espritflipnova.jpg | 112.59 KB |
Assuming the date was April 14.95 and searching within 5' arc:
No known minor planets, brighter than V = 20, were found in the 5.0-arcminute region around R.A. = 13 30 00, Decl. = +47 10 00 (J2000.0) on 2018 04 14.95 UT. using https://minorplanetcenter.net/cgi-bin/mpcheck.cgi
Nothing here either: http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/snimages/
Did you take more than one image ?
- Tim
We took 2 x 300 seconds in luminance, RGB. 20 flats and used library darks
Update....I am travelling up to Thirsk tomorrow evening and will take a look at all the images we took. Will post update.
I did a quick search of the Transient Name Server and there appears to be no reported events events since the 1st March within 5 degrees of M51. Here are the search criteria I used.
I've scrutinised my 10th March image of M51 and indeed there's no evidence of this transient. I'll try to get some images this evening. It's clear skies in Tynemouth at the moment, but of course this is unlikely to remain the case as the sky darkens! David
50 x 10s frames, median stack, midpoint of imaging run: 20:40 GMT. Unfortunately no bright signal at the same position.
Perhaps the transient was in only 1 frame? Does the colour brightness differ in the 3 filters (out of interest)?
Enlarged image attached
Yes, of course it could indeed be real. I just posted my image up in case it turned out to be a longer-lived phenomenon. Point meteor may be a good candidate. Transparency last night was excellent.