Starship Asterisk*

What is the cause of the faint dotted line that runs at about a 60 degree angle across the star field?


Thanks for the reply. Based on your clue, it does appear to be an aircraft flying from the upper right of the picture (closest to camera) to the lower left of the picture (further away from camera) seems like the logical answer. The spacing between flashes would appear closer together the further away it is from the camera.

Could be an airplane....
(I'd have said a meteor or Iridium flare, or the ISS, but that trail seems long for them. Well, maybe not the ISS....)

A search on 'star trails' in the archives gives some examples.

Neat image. 8)

Indigo_Sunrise wrote:Could be an airplane....
(I'd have said a meteor or Iridium flare, or the ISS, but that trail seems long for them. Well, maybe not the ISS....)

However, way too far north for N-S vs. W-E path, and too dark a sky for the ISS.

A BLINKING aircraft anti collision light system (either strobe lights or rotating beacon) has been
required to be operational and to be turned on for all airplanes built after March 11, 1996.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080604.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090909.html

It was in fact an airplane. There are gaps in the airplanes track because there was a few seconds delay between each shot that made up the picture. It was traveling North to South.

Cheers,
Joshua Bury