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Very new to this. Bought my wife a telescope for Christmas (Celeston Powerseeker 127 eq) we’ve both been enjoying finding out how it works and particularly love gazing at the moon.
I took a series of moon pics a few weeks ago and noticed this on one of the pics.
Hoping somebody could tell me what it is, I think it’s a satellite of some kind.
Any help appreciated
Appears to be a plane/jet. Too large for a satellite. Even the ISS is smaller than this.
You can make out the body, rear tail and wings.
14.5" f/5.3 Starmaster with Sky Commander XP4 | 9.25" Celestron SCT | 8" f/7 Starmaster (only 5 made) with Sky Commander V3
6" f/12 Orion 150mm Mak | 4" f/9 Celestron Refractor (Vixen) | 80mm f4 unbranded refractor
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Large Assortment of Nagler and Konig Eyepieces | ZWO ASI290MC & ZWO ASI120MM-s Cameras
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See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885 EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102 Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss The only culture I have is from yogurt My day was going well until... people
you see a t-tail elevator and dual engines, the fuselage is rather slim for a large airliner,kind gives an idea that it's some sort of dual turbo prop commercial plane.
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .
It's either a two jet-engined commercial or private jet or a twin-engined prop aircraft. Since we don't know the altitude or distance from your observation site that night, there's no way of knowing if this is a smaller private aircraft or a larger commercial jet. I don't believe it's a military aircraft or a drone though it does look vaguely like a Global Hawk drone in silhouette. However, the image doesn't display twin vertical tailfins of a Global Hawk.
Of course there's an extremely low probability that this is a German WWII-era ME-262 two-engine jet fighter that traveled forward in time 75 years and you were fortunate enough to capture it when it popped out of a time warp. Heh! Actually, it's outline does closely resemble the ME-262 Swallow fighter.
Seriously, there's little doubt it's an aerial craft of human origins manufactured in the last one to forty years. Nice capture and the silhouette is really pretty sharp. Thanks for sharing. Astrophotography anomalies have always intrigued me.
Telescopes: Meade LX90 10-inch f/10 UHC Coma-free SCT; Explore Scientific 127mm f/7.5 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 80mm f/6 APO ED triplet refractor; Skywatcher 72mm f/6 ED Schott doublet refractor; Meade 70mm f/5 APO quadruplet astrograph refractor; Skywatcher Quattro 8-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Orion 6-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Skywatcher SkyMax 180mm f/15 Maksutov; iOptron 150mm f/12 Maksutov; Orion f/9 Ritchey-Chretien RC astrograph Eyepieces: Set of 7 Baader Hyperion eyepieces, 3 Meade 5000 glass handgrenades; 1970s era Japanese manufactured Meade 12.5mm Orthoscopic, and too many other eclectic eyepieces to list Mounts: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount; Orion Atlas EQ-G mount Post-production Software: Not good enough … oh, okay ... Canon's proprietary CanoScan ArcSoft 9000F photoshop suite
Definitely an airplane, though it does look like a drone!
I often see bats wheeling about in front of the Moon while imaging, and there are an amazing amount of birds flapping around up there in the night sky. I watched a pelican cross the disk one night, which was creepy as we just don't have pelicans around here. I thought it as a dragon at first.
Bryan Scopes: Apertura AD12 f/5; Celestron C6-R f/8; ES AR127 f/6.4; Stellarvue SV102T f/7; iOptron MC90 f/13.3; Orion ST80A f/5; ES ED80 f/6; Celestron Premium 80 f/11.4; Celestron C80 f/11.4; Unitron Model 142 f/16; Meade NG60 f/10 Mounts: Celestron AVX; Bresser EXOS-2; ES Twilight I; ES Twilight II; iOptron Cube-G; AZ3/wood tripod; Vixen Polaris Binoculars: Pentax PCF WP II 10×50, Bresser Corvette 10×50, Bresser Hunter 16×50 and 8×40, Garrett Gemini 12×60 LW, Gordon 10×50, Apogee 20×100
A dragon? Buwahahahaha. I'm waiting for a witch to be silhouetted against the Moon. Now that would be quite the image. Channeling "Bewitched" by the night sky, here. If I ever capture such an image I'll be sure and post it here the next day!
In my film days I captured a Boeing 727 jetliner with some Tri-X B&W film and you could see the heat waves in its jet exhaust. Pretty cool. It was something like a 1/250th second exposure with my Olympus OM2N camera so it was a pretty clear and sharp shot. Unfortunately, I can't find the negative of that one or else I'd scan it in and post it here in this forum. The Moon was something like three days from being full.
Telescopes: Meade LX90 10-inch f/10 UHC Coma-free SCT; Explore Scientific 127mm f/7.5 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 80mm f/6 APO ED triplet refractor; Skywatcher 72mm f/6 ED Schott doublet refractor; Meade 70mm f/5 APO quadruplet astrograph refractor; Skywatcher Quattro 8-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Orion 6-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Skywatcher SkyMax 180mm f/15 Maksutov; iOptron 150mm f/12 Maksutov; Orion f/9 Ritchey-Chretien RC astrograph Eyepieces: Set of 7 Baader Hyperion eyepieces, 3 Meade 5000 glass handgrenades; 1970s era Japanese manufactured Meade 12.5mm Orthoscopic, and too many other eclectic eyepieces to list Mounts: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount; Orion Atlas EQ-G mount Post-production Software: Not good enough … oh, okay ... Canon's proprietary CanoScan ArcSoft 9000F photoshop suite
Telescopes Saxon 10" x 1200 Dobsonian, Bresser 114 x 500 Dobsonian, Saxon 70 x 400 Refractor.
Eyepieces ES 82* 2" 18mm, 1.25" 11mm, GSO 2" 30mm superview, Seben mzt 8-24, Sky Watcher 58* 4mm and various Plossls.
Bino's Saxon 10 x 50, Carton 12 x 50, 10 x 25 ucf.
Other Skywatcher Solar System Imager
I'll vote for a drone from the looks of it, but a plane seems more likely IMO.
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Its a great picture whatever it is. I'd like to think it was a bird of prey but I don't think so. We also dont want it to be a crack in the moon.. the hole ? In the big end is odd though .. thanks for sharing it . Phill
Phill. Dreaming of Clear Skys ....
SCOPE : Skywatcher 120X600 ST Achromatic Refractor.
EP's : 25mm & 10mm Plossl , Celestron 8/24mm Zoom EP,
Filters : Solar filter, Badder Fringe Killer & Moon/Skyglow.
MOUNT : Skywatcher Star Discovery goto Mount.
CAMERAS : ZWO 120 asi MC. / Sony HX400V 50X Zoom.
Binoculars : Saxon 10x50