A question about a photograph

[vgagi]

My first post.<br />I hope this is the right place to asq my question.<br />Question is about this photo:<br />http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17542<br />There is a bright spot just bellow the Moon. Anyone knows what that bright spot is ?<br />

 

[doubletruncation]

(Note for anyone like me who is initially confused, you have to look at the full-resolution version of the image to see the bright spot).<br /><br />Hi VGagi, welcome to SDC!<br /><br />My own guess is that it's a bad pixel in the camera, or a cosmic ray hit. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[weeman]

First of all, this is a narly picture! I think I will set it as my background.<br /><br />Second of all, the bright spot below the Moon is Earth..............haha, just kidding!<br /><br />I am having a hard time even seeing what you're talking about. I would imagine that it is a glare of some kind, or something relating to the camera. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Most likely its what doubletruncation said, but there is one other possibility. It could be a satellite many miles out. Enlarging the image might provide a better look at the spot.<br /><br />We know its not a star because its in front of the moon. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Its the little dot in front of the unlit portion of the moon. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[telfrow]

Here's an enlargement... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[space_coops]

Id say its a Satellite or bad pixel.

 

[ianke]

Really cool picture! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bobw]

I checked the dates for shuttle, soyuz and progress flights but nothing matched. It seems like it would have to be a pretty bright satellite to show up in the daytime, but it could be.<br /><br />Great picture! I set it to be my desktop, too.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[qso1]

Thanks for the resized pic. Still cant say for sure what it is and unless it can be correlated to known satellite data, we won't know for sure if its a satellite. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[docm]

Could also be a reflection off a distant aircraft. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[qso1]

Thats certainly possible. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[vgagi]

Thanks for the replies.<br />What really confuses me is the line between the spot and Earth (even more hardly to notice). Was this photo made from inside of ISS, or from outside ?

 

[alokmohan]

We have so many options.Was it a bright object?

 

[5billionyearslater]

Is it Mercury?

 

[qso1]

Good point, I don't rule it out entirely but most likely the spot is an image artifact as originally postulated. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[pyoko]

It's Obkani. I keep telling people! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="color:#ff9900" class="Apple-style-span">-pyoko</span> <span style="color:#333333" class="Apple-style-span">the</span> <span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span">duck </span></p><p><span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color:#808080;font-style:italic" class="Apple-style-span">It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.</span></span></p> </div>