what is it?

[warfreak131]

A few months ago, I was trying to look at Andromeda, and while I was searching around, I came across a strange object that looked like a black center with like 6 or 7 gray arms projecting out of it, this is what I recall it looking like:<br /><br />http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/3994/weirdxg8.jpg

 

[doubletruncation]

Hi WarFreak,<br /><br />We'll need to know a few details to figure out what it might have been. Namely,<br />1. What telescope/eyepiece or binoculars were you using?<br />2. Roughly how big did it look in your field of view (did it fill it completely, half-way, or what)?<br />3. Where were you observing from and what were the conditions (were you in a city or out in the country, was it cloudy at all)?<br />4. Roughly where on the sky were you looking (were you looking in the constellation Andromeda or were you pointing off in some other direction?)<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[warfreak131]

Hi, I was using an Orion 25x magnification lens. It filled probably 1/2 of the eyepiece. I was looking East on a September, or October night. I live in the suburbs and it was a clear night. I had a map of the sky with me, and I was looking for about half an hour, but I just could not find Andromeda, so I decided to just point my telescope anywhere in the eastern sky and hoped that I would find it.

 

[doubletruncation]

Was your telescope in focus (did you see stars that looked like little points of light rather than like blobs or donuts)? I just ask this because the drawing looks vaguely like an out of focus star (they look like donuts when you use a telescope with a secondary mirror).<br /><br />Also, do you know what the aperture size of your telescope is (usually something like 4-12 inches)? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[warfreak131]

No, it was in focus. When stars aren't in focus, it looks like this: <br /><br />http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/7459/staroof2ix.png<br /><br />I have a 5.1 inch reflector telescope. There's really no doubt in my mind that it was something strange.

 

[doubletruncation]

Hi WarFreak,<br /><br />I figure your focal ratio is probably something like f/7? Then for a 130mm scope with a 25mm eyepiece the FOV is probably about 90', so the object you saw would be on the order of 45' across. Assuming a sky glow of about 19 mag/arcsec^2 for a suburb you could probably have seen a surface brightness down to about 21 or 22 mag/arcsec^2, the source would then have integrated brightness of at least ~5 mag. There aren't that many sources that are that bright/big... so that should narrow things down somewhat. Unfortunately I can't think of anything that really looks like what you drew... Maybe the Orion nebula can look a little spidery (and it would be about that big and about that bright and it is quite a bit to the east of andromeda, though you would have had to have been observing after about 11 or 12pm for it to have been up), but it doesn't really have a hole in its center... If you spot it again try to see where you're pointing and maybe draw out some of the brighter stars (together with a scale). One thing that looks a little more like what you drew is the owl nebula in ursa major, (e.g. http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m097.html ), though this would have been more to the north than to the east and it also would have been much smaller than half the field of view (more like 3%). It's also possible that you were looking at M33 which is near Andromeda (though it would have had to have been quite dark too see that much of it, and I don't know how you would see a hole in it - usually it just look like a centrally concentrated fuzzy patch that you need averted vision to see). The Crab Nebula is another possibility, it is pretty much east of Andromeda and does have a fairly complex structure (most people see a Z when they look at it through the eyepiece), but again its nowhere near 45' across (it's just a little bit bigger than one of the planets). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[warfreak131]

Wow, thats a mouthful. I don't think it could have been anything faint, because I was trying to observe right near a street light. I know it's a dumb idea to try that, but I stood behind my bushes in the backyard, so it ruled out 75% of the light pollution. There was no way that it was any illusion of the street light, I'll look in Starry Night and see what I can find.

 

[deapfreeze]

I was out looking at venus at about 9:30pm eastern time. I saw the moon and to the left venus further left orion but in between orion and venus closer to the horizon I saw what appeared to be a bright red star. I live in Chatham Ontario Canada 1 hour east of Windsor Detroit border. If anyone can tell me what this was?<br /><br />Thanks in advance <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#0000ff"><em>William ( deapfreeze ) Hooper</em></font></p><p><font size="1">http://deapfreeze-amateur-astronomy.tk/</font></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Aldebaran. <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]

Yup. 38 solar diameters and now primarily burning helium. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[qso1]

Thats one big star! <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>

 

[enigma10]

Just full of hot air. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"<font color="#333399">An organism at war with itself is a doomed organism." - Carl Sagan</font></em> </div>

 

[qso1]

Thats true, just imagine how full of hot air Betelguese is. <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>