Not Really sure what it is....

I was out taking a star trails shot the other night and came across an interesting beam of light that crossed my field, just curious of others opinions here please. The two bright streaks I know are normal satellites, but the other is obviously green. Never heard of a green satellite
I took 61 exposures that night, 5 minute each at 3.5 with a 400 ISO. These were the 3 shots that had something extra in them. I thought about maybe a green laser, but who can one of those things perfectly steady for 5 minutes?
Image was taken in far northern California.
Thanks

Green Satellite?

MOD EDIT: Fix Link


[edit on May 17th 2010 by greeneyedleo]

reply to post by whyshouldI trustyou2619


Weird. I can't remember having ever seen any green satellites myself. Of course that doesn't mean there aren't any.

Here's another picture of a green trail... according to the web site, it was a meteor.
www.amateurastronomy.org...

BTW, I'm also located in far northern cali... so hello neighbor!

i dont know what it is. but i have starred and flagged for the great pictures

Originally posted by Tearman
reply to post by whyshouldI trustyou2619

 

Weird. I can't remember having ever seen any green satellites myself. Of course that doesn't mean there aren't any.

Here's another picture of a green trail... according to the web site, it was a meteor.
www.amateurastronomy.org...

BTW, I'm also located in far northern cali... so hello neighbor!

Makes sense. Some similar discussion here.

Possibility?

Plane Navigation Lights

Navigation lights: All aircraft are equipped with a steady light near the leading edge of each wingtip. When facing forward from the perspective of the pilot, the light on the right wingtip is green while that on the left wing is red. The different colors make it possible for an outside observer, such as the pilot of another aircraft, to determine which direction the plane is flying. These navigation lights are most useful at night when it is more difficult to tell the direction the plane is going without them.

[edit on May 17th 2010 by greeneyedleo]

My vote is for a meteorite with a bit of copper mixed in with the iron. Copper burns green. The trail is shaped like that of a meteorite.

Copper in a meteorite.

[edit on 18-5-2010 by draknoir2]

reply to post by Tearman


A bit long to be a meteor don't you think? That thing goes across the entire visible sky. Not saying it isnt possible... but just odd

Originally posted by samureyed
reply to post by Tearman

 

A bit long to be a meteor don't you think? That thing goes across the entire visible sky. Not saying it isnt possible... but just odd

It goes across the whole sky because of the way he is taking the photo - long exposure.

Really, can not analys the picture properly because of this.

Planes have green lights on them - as noted above. Other than that, impossible to know.

S&F. I like your images, the one of the two satellites traveling in unison is interesting as well. Got any more?!

reply to post by greeneyedleo


I understand it's a long exposure I look for meteorites a lot and rarely see the ones that go that amount of distance let alone green ones! Long exposure or not, he's still only picking up what we would see with our own eyes.

The green airplane lights are possible as well, but wouldn't there also be a blinking white?

Either way your right, it's impossible to tell in the end, but still interesting.

Another picture of a meteorite with a green trail

Click Here

Other than that, there is a more "out-there" explanation, so called Green fireballs...
Excuse the wiki-link for once... Green Fireballs

... a relating ATS thread
www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 18-5-2010 by Clairaudience]

reply to post by whyshouldI trustyou2619


Hi, sorry it's taken awhile to get back and comment on my initial comments and photo. To be honest it's generated much more interest than I expected, (about 300 views on my flickr page).
I went ahead and loaded a couple of others you might find interesting from Washington state. This is the link www.flickr.com...@N00/sets/

This is what I did and how I found these things. The exposures are shot at a 400 ISO, 5 minutes each, f3.5. Layered in PS. This a great technique and for those of you that love star trails I learned this technique from this guy in Reno at the site: www.liquidinplastic.com
Anyway, in the editing process the images I put on my flickr site are just some of the odd things that I can't explain. A green Satellite, a curving light trail, and two satellites flying in unison. Enjoy!, I'm interested in seeing others ideas on these.

reply to post by samureyed


Just to let you know I did upload a link with more start trails and unknown things in the night sky...hope you enjoy!

reply to post by whyshouldI trustyou2619



Green laser pointer?

T.

reply to post by Triangulum



I thought of that, but that idea doesn't work either. If you look at the link for my star trails shots on flickr, there's a pic of an observatory in Washington state. While I was there the director of the place came outside with about 6 or 7 people to point things out in the night sky, using a laser pointer. He used it while I was shooting my time exposures, and not one time did the pointer show up. I think it's just too weak to show on those kinds of exposures. I'm waiting to hear back from that same director of the observatory (I sent him the green satellite image to) just to get his view..when I get his reply I will copy and paste his reply.

Ok, I heard from the Astronomer in Goldendale WA and this is what he said about the green "satellite".

HI Roger,
I too am not really sure what left the green streak. At first I was ready to agree with the person who suggested a nickel meteor however if you do a search on the internet for images of meteors you will see that mostly they do not leave such a long trail; even the brightest fireballs. With the wide angle lens you were using that trail is very long. I also noticed a fainter red trail in parallel and to the upper left of the green line.

Clear Dark Skies and Good Seeing To You!!!
Steve"

So what it seems to boil down to is a mystery...unless someone else has a great idea?

"I also noticed a fainter red trail in parallel and to the upper left of the green line."

That pretty much confirms greeneyedleo's aircraft lights, I would think. The closer wingtip shows a brighter light and the more distant wingtip facing more away shows a dimmer red light.

Sorry, but the faint red line he's referring to is a whole separate satellite hundreds (if not thousands) of miles away. That one image I posted is a combination of 3 images, all of which had one thing appear in each. The green streak is completely independent and has no other colors associated with it.
Thanks for your post though.

Originally posted by whyshouldI trustyou2619
Sorry, but the faint red line he's referring to is a whole separate satellite hundreds (if not thousands) of miles away. That one image I posted is a combination of 3 images, all of which had one thing appear in each. The green streak is completely independent and has no other colors associated with it.
Thanks for your post though.

How do you know its a satellite and how do you know the distance of the object? Your source never said anything about a satellite.

And satellites are never hundreds of miles away.

[edit on May 19th 2010 by greeneyedleo]