Object near M57 in 1951 not in recent images

I was playing with an image of mine taken in May and scaled rotated etc to compare with an National Geographic Survey plate of same region taken on photgraphic plate some 58 years ago. Ah - for the heck of it.

I enjoyed being able to match the images. However, one "star" in original image is not in mine. Further in a few other images (I got through Aladin) I couldn't find any sign of it either. I loaded up the GSC2.2 catalogue in Aladin and every object in the neighbourhood can be identified.

If I'm using my tools correctly this object is about +55 degrees north of the ecliptic and I would have thought well off the beaten track of the known planets and most minor planet objects.

It could be an artifact of the plate - but it looks quite convincing.

Pertainent info for the 1951 image
ORIGIN = 'CASB -- STScI ' /Origin of FITS image
PLTLABEL= 'E267 ' /Observatory plate label
PLATEID = '06R2 ' /GSSS Plate ID
REGION = 'XE335 ' /GSSS Region Name
DATE-OBS= '05/07/51 ' /UT date of Observation
UT = '06:12:00.00 ' /UT time of observation
EPOCH = 1.9515075683594E+03 /Epoch of plate
.
.
.
SITELAT = '+33:24:24.00 ' /Latitude of Observatory
SITELONG= '-116:51:48.00 ' /Longitude of Observatory
TELESCOP= 'Palomar 48-inch Schmidt'/Telescope where plate taken

Any ideas?

Mark

I suppose some cordinate might help

ICRS RA 18:53:30.96 DEC +33:05:37.36

I might learn something here - with ICRS does EPOCH go out the window as we're now using very distant radio galaxies as our "static" reference frame?

Mark

Mark - do you have the full date/time (UT) of your image?

Also, did you only take one image or a series? Was the image you've posted calibrated (darks, flats etc) or did you do any processing if it?

Dave - I don't want to confuse - the "spot" was on the historic (58 years ago) image. What ever it was its history and not in an image from the 90's for example or mine from this year.

I can't see any way to followup - even if it could be confirmed that no minor planet known today was in that neighbourhood back then - without additional images it would seem impossible to resolve.

I can email the FITS of the original 1951 image if your interested - but I think that this is more of a curriosity now. It seems like a symmetrical spot (the pixelation have the usual little cross pattern). Maybe I shouldn't have posted it as there can be no real followup.

Mark

Ah, sorry :blush:

Could have been a a fading nova or supernova or possibly a solar system object (asteroid).

You're right though, difficult to follow up but if anyone has a bit of spare time on their hands, it could be done.