Filmed this object moving and changing colour tonight sky with my camera

Interesting that you saw something too... Macclesfield is not too far from us!

I would never normally have noticed anything like that.... was laid on bed with migraine and just looking out of window. I watched it for a while because I thought it was me to be honest... kept screwing my eyes up and having another look.

Then decided to go outside incase it was a trick of the window... reflection or something. When I went outside it was just the same, which is when I went back for my camera. It was quite a distance away and the clarity is not good which I accept. It was the changing colours that were fascinating me.

Originally posted by easystreet
reply to post by Druid42

 

Hi

Here is a link to the individual pictures, I am sorry they are blurred..... I just kept pausing the video and doing a screen shot.

edit on 23-3-2011 by easystreet because: wrong link... amended

That definitely looks more spherical. Why does it seem that its position is relative to the size of the white data loss areas I am seeing?

Sorry, don't know what you mean by white data loss?

reply to post by easystreet


Hi, I'm back with enhanced images:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8af82ab76732.png[/atsimg]
A 450 nm filter applied.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/76ad0617bbbe.jpg[/atsimg]
10x zoom, and a stack of 5 images, 450 nm filter.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/aed6fb30ff30.jpg[/atsimg]
5x zoom, all colors filtered.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/239f34b58196.jpg[/atsimg]
No zoom, all colors filtered.


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c31a61a486d2.jpg[/atsimg]
Chroma Enhanced.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9797716486a1.jpg[/atsimg]
Dithered with 700nm and 500nm filters applied.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8366d749ae9e.jpg[/atsimg]
Stack of 5 with lensing effects.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/58cd818b8773.jpg[/atsimg]
Lensing applied with chroma correction and 700nm and 450nm filters applied.

I dabble in Astronomy, and often spend hours letting my computer enhance DSOs. (Deep Sky Objects). I'm an amateur, but I have the software and know how to play with vague images to enhance details. One of the best programs is Registax, I'm running version 5.1, and you can get a copy for free if you are interested in learning more, just google it. It has soooo many features, everything an amateur astronomer could want.

I've come to the conclusion what you were watching was the moon, going through a very interesting phase of atmospheric lensing. It's called phenomena, and worth getting on video. To me, the sky is fascinating, and it makes me realize how tiny our planet is.

A few facts: The moon is roughly 240,000 miles away. Our atmosphere is roughly 18 miles thick. It's composed of several layers, each interacting with what we can see through it, causing all kinds of distortions.

Staying on topic, the interaction of the different layers, sunlight on the outer layers, radiation from the sun penetrating inner layers, refraction and angles of incidence, and so on, create this huge kaleidoscope of colors. It's very rare to see a celestial object go through such a series of spectrum changes. Good find!

Also adding in that you reported it was in the sky for the 2.25 minutes you filmed it, ages actually, and it moved slowly, no sudden movements or erratic jumping. Fits the behavior of the moon. The chromatic display must have been awesome to watch with the naked eye.

I researched your camera, it has an aperture of 5mm to 75mm. The human iris has an aperture from 4mm to 8mm, depending solely on your age, as your aperture of your eye increases accordingly. The bigger the iris, the more photons are let in, and more detail appears. The "closer" an object is, the blurrier it will be, because you need something to focus it on your retina A telescope or camera does that for you.. Your camera goes well beyond the range of human eyesight, just try to imagine it as a bionicle eye which you can use to enhance your own vision. Telescopes do the same sort of normal vision enhancements. Computer software takes the information and revises it pixel by pixel, giving you something that your naked eyesight couldn't normally see.

Your camera has a 1.35 to 5.4 focal length. That means the primary lens is a range of 1.35 inches to 5.4 inches from the CCD chip (charge-coupled device, the "film" of a digital camera, and the thing that captures photons in different frequency ranges, "colors"), and you have 0 to 15x the ability to magnify whatever you point it at. Next time try to remember your zoom level, and post it, because from your focal length and aperture people can calculate distance and adjust focus in their software. Yeah, really. No kidding. As a hobby, I run my own observatory, learning every day something a little different.

If you gain an interest in astronomy, please get a tripod. You can get stunning pics of the moon under the right conditions with the addition of a tripod and your cameras capabilities. The chromatic aberrations you captured were rare and outstanding.

Originally posted by Druid42
I've come to the conclusion what you were watching was the moon

Except Your Sky shows the moon wasn't visible from Cleckheaton at that time.

Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, was however. It was visible low in the sky to the south. This matches the direction of the observation and would account for increased atmospheric distortion and brilliance.

reply to post by eaglewingz


Sirius does lens like that, and the OP never stated her zoom level. I have her equipment specs, and given minimum zoom, definitively not Sirius. Given max zoom at 15x with a max focal length of 5 inches, you'd get an out of focus image like that, and it becomes a possibility.

merlinxlm's Avatar merlinxlm is Offline Star Forming North Wales. Posts: 302 Join Date: Oct 2008 Default Sirius tonight - 22nd March 2011, 10:04 PM Hello everyone, I've just been outside to look at Sirius, after my wife came in and said that it was blinking a lot. And I can honestly say that I've never seen Sirius showing so many colours. Blue, green, red and orange. All the colours are so vibrant and blinking so much. I must say that in all my years of astronomy, its one of the most beautiful sights I've seen. It just goes to show that even the most easy objects can still suprise you. If its clear at your area tonight, pop out to see it. Thank you.

I never corrected for extra-solar objects. I was sure it was the moon. Shame on me for not thinking outside the box.

All my settings were for near earth objects. The moon. It's Sirius, once I factor in the extraneous data.

Originally posted by PoorFool
Fake. Nice try.

Mods, this is just ignorant!

Firstly, can people stop calling the op 'guy', its a lady....You would know that if you read the posts properly!

Sadly OP, the whole thing looks like its all out of focus, I'm betting your camera was using automatic focus, sadly on small objects it gets it wrong more often than right.

I'm betting to the eye it seem more pin point than the camera makes it look?

Whatever the answer, nice spot, keep 'em peeled

Thank you all for your responses and you have sparked my interest. I intend to get a tripod and who knows I might catch something worthwhile one day!!

Thanks again.