Asteroid Zoo Talk

Strange Plume

  • TonyJHoffman by TonyJHoffman

    Is this an artifact, perhaps a nearby bright star? Or something exotic, like a comet tail?

    Posted

  • Dr.Asteroid by Dr.Asteroid scientist, admin

    The weirdness on the edge indicates it's at the very edge of the field. I think that it's a bright star that is off the detector, but glinting off something like the edge of the window that protects the detector from the outside world.

    Shame it's not a comet tail. That would be a nice find.

    Posted

  • TonyJHoffman by TonyJHoffman

    Thanks, Matt. It almost looks like a CME erupting, but of course that's impossible.

    Posted

  • Dr.Asteroid by Dr.Asteroid scientist, admin

    Well, CMEs do certainly erupt, but CSS is definitely NOT looking at the right place in the sky for that sort of thing. For really cool views of CMEs look at the results of the STEREO mission. http://secchi.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=movies has some amazing movies of CMEs blowing out into the solar system.

    Posted