I have had very helpful feedback concerning the mysterious "rays" in my image of the Flame Nebula in my 3/21/2017 post. Here is the rest of the story. It appears the "rays" are not associated with any nearby astronomer using a laser as an artificial star image in the atmosphere for their adaptive optics system to correct for atmospheric distortion. Nothing as complicated as that. I learned it was probably just a lens flare effect from the bright nearby star, Alnitak. Oh.
To check out the idea that it is lens flaring from Alnitak just outside the FOV, I looked at the Flame Nebula again last night. Yep, the mystery rays were still there as shown in the left image below. Then I began to slightly move the telescope in the direction of Alnitak and guess what... that is where they were coming from. Once Alnitak was in the field of view they went away as you can see in this series of three images
To check out the idea that it is lens flaring from Alnitak just outside the FOV, I looked at the Flame Nebula again last night. Yep, the mystery rays were still there as shown in the left image below. Then I began to slightly move the telescope in the direction of Alnitak and guess what... that is where they were coming from. Once Alnitak was in the field of view they went away as you can see in this series of three images
Sometimes when you are observing you find something you don't expect and you go down a rabbit trail. That's when I like to "follow the rabbit through the ditches" as we say in the South to find out more. As another test, I tried a different combination of focal reduction and was able to eliminate the flaring effect with just the Flame Nebula in the Field of View.
I remember the first time I saw groups of short lines appear to pass through the Field of View of the Orion Nebula. Alien ships flying in formation? Nope. Later I learned it was from geosynchronous satellites. Even though those satellites remain in a fixed position above the earth, they appear to pass through your field of view due to the tracking movement of your mount as the Earth turns. For an example of this, see my 12/13/2014 Blog at ...
seeing-something-you-are-not-expecting.html
I remember the first time I saw groups of short lines appear to pass through the Field of View of the Orion Nebula. Alien ships flying in formation? Nope. Later I learned it was from geosynchronous satellites. Even though those satellites remain in a fixed position above the earth, they appear to pass through your field of view due to the tracking movement of your mount as the Earth turns. For an example of this, see my 12/13/2014 Blog at ...
seeing-something-you-are-not-expecting.html
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