What is this object in this NASA Atlantis post launch image?

I was just randomly looking at any new images Nasa had. Im kinda tired of looking at the moon and mars photos and seeing things that a lot of others just dont see so I was taking a break.
Well I thought this right after Atlantis launch bldg and sky image view was cool looking so I grabbed the full image from the Nasa page which is quite high res. Too my surprise there is what appears too be a very round and lit object that doesnt seem to be a star or the moon or an airplane. Its in the launch contrails upper left.
Can anyone offer any insight on this photo and or the relative position of the moon too this launch.





Here is a link to the full size Image and NASA page.
My small pic above doesnt do it justice. But you can see the white dot in my ATS friendly image above.
www.nasa.gov...

Its also image 19 on this page link below.
www.nasa.gov...

Hey V' If this is from STS-122's launch day pics, that isn't the Moon or Venus... wrong position for about that time of day... looking at the larger pic... geez, I don't know. Could be a weather balloon. Wink. Good catch.

More and more as time passes "little weird" things pop up unexpectedly... almost need a team to sort through all the imagery for "finds". Great find V".

122 is "Go" for ISS-undock in 17 minutes nominal...

Vic

Looks a little bit like the Death Star to me .

Great find. Doesn't look like a planet or something. ET's watching how the Human race tries to crawl in to space?

I just queried the Nasa folks on this image in an email. I didnt tell them of the anomally in the pic rather I wanted to know the time of the pic and links to other images from the same aspect around the same time.
When I ask them vanilla questions I usually get a email back rather shortly but when I ask about "other" things they Never get back with. Weird.

reply to post by VType

I don't understand...why couldn't these two objects just be bright stars or planets? Based on the brightness of the foreground in the dusk light, this photo obviously had an exposure time of a several seconds; therefore I don't think it is too odd for a few of the brightest starts and planets to be visible.

I see 3 spots in the picture, and to me, they appear just as stars would appear at dusk; but that's just my opinion. Nice picture btw, it's my desktop

not sure what to make of the white dots, could just be digital artifacts or CCD erring.

what's interesting is the contrail ribbon. most unique formation i have ever seen.

Picture caption states this photo is after the STS-117 launch. That was on June 8, 2007 at 19:38 Eastern. The camera is roughly pointing WNW for this picture going by the view of the Assembly Building.

I setup Stellarium for the Cape at 20:00 Eastern on June 8, 2007. Venus is prominent in the WNW sky just as seen in the photo.

Originally posted by IAttackPeople
Picture caption states this photo is after the STS-117 launch. That was on June 8, 2007 at 19:38 Eastern. The camera is roughly pointing WNW for this picture going by the view of the Assembly Building.

I setup Stellarium for the Cape at 20:00 Eastern on June 8, 2007. Venus is prominent in the WNW sky just as seen in the photo.

Thank You for the info. And Yes it is a beautiful picture. I guess Venus is deffinately rising well in that image.


[edit on 18-2-2008 by VType]

I did a crop of the picture in the first post and it does look like a balloon to me.




I also found this on a site that details launch constraints and they do release balloons to determine wind speeds.

Wind:
Tanking will not begin if the wind is observed or forecast to exceed 42 knots for the next three hour period.

For launch the wind constraints at the launch pad will vary slightly for each mission. The peak wind speed allowable is 30 knots. However, when the wind direction is between 100 degrees and 260 degrees, the peak speed varies for each mission and may be as low as 24 knots.

The upper atmosphere wind profile must conform to either one of two wind loading programs developed by the Johnson Space Center. This profile is determined by a series of Jimsphere wind balloon releases from Cape Canaveral Air Station.

www.spaceref.com...


Edit: I also found a NASA photo of a Jimspere.




This is a link to the manufacturers web site with more pictures of their products. They come in various sizes and different surfaces.

www.jimsphere.com...

I would bet the larger object is a balloon and the very small white dot is Venus or another balloon at a greater distance or altitude.

[edit on 18/2/2008 by anxietydisorder]