Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope UFO video. Bug?

[geckzilla]

I'll bring the Schmidt but I don't have a Cassegrain.

[AmericanRoadwarrior]

Agreed. It appears to behave like a party balloon to me. Quite close to Regulus, too, so be on the lookout for balloons as well as asteroids on Thursday:
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... &start=675


Don't you just love this misinformation age?

Party balloon sounds like one of the best answers I've heard.

Thank you

[neufer]

I'll bring the Schmidt but I don't have a Cassegrain.

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<<The Cassegrain reflector is a reflecting telescope design that solved the problem of viewing an image without obstructing the primary mirror by using a convex secondary mirror on the optical axis to bounce the light back through a hole in the primary mirror thus permitting the light to reach an eyepiece.

It first appeared in the eighth edition of the 17th century French science journal Recueil des mémoires et conférences concernant les arts et les sciences, published by Jean-Baptiste Denys in April 25, 1672. In that edition is found an extract from a letter written by M. de Bercé, writing from Chartres, where he acted as a representative for the Académie des sciences —scholars of Chartres. M. de Bercé reported on a man named Cassegrain who had written a letter on the megaphone with an attached note describing a new type of reflecting telescope, the Cassegrain reflector, where a secondary convex mirror is suspended above a primary concave mirror. This was around the time of the publication of the construction of the first practical reflecting telescope, Isaac Newton's newtonian reflector. On June 13, 1672, Christiaan Huygens wrote about the Cassegrain design and critiqued it harshly, maybe because Huygens felt Newton's design was being "imperiled" by this alternative. Whatever the motives, the storm of controversy that followed had one lasting effect: Cassegrain's name was forgotten.

The identity of this "Cassegrain" has had many theories. His only known publication was the letter on the megaphone/reflecting telescope in the April 25, 1672 Recueil des mémoires et conférences concernant les arts et les sciences. For a long time, reference works were forced to report his first name as "not conclusively known". The Encyclopaedia Britannica (15th edition, 1974), for example, only goes as far as listing "Cassegrain, N.". Other sources have suggested the "N." stood for Nicolas. Some sources claim his name to be Guillaume, a metal-caster and sculptor who is mentioned in the accounts of king Louis XIV's buildings between 1684 and 1686. Another name put forward is Jacques, a chirurgeon or doctor, who is mentioned in the Mémoires de l’Académie des sciences as having found, in 1691, a piece of magnet in the steeple of Chartres Cathedral, then being repaired after being damaged by inclement weather.

The crater Cassegrain on the far side of the Moon is named after him, even though his true identity was not known at the time of the naming.

In 1997 two French astronomers, Andre Baranne and Francois Launay, after a long and meticulous investigation including a search for unpublished manuscripts and the analysis of parish registers in the places where Cassegrain lived (Chartres first and then Chaudon, near Nogent-le-Roi), identified a Catholic priest named Laurent Cassegrain as the most likely candidate. Laurent Cassegrain was born in the region of Chartres around 1629 and was the son of Mathurin Cassegrain and Jehanne Marquet. It is unknown what his education was but he was a priest and professor by 1654. He may have been interested in acoustics, optics and mechanics. At the time of his death he was working as a teacher giving science classes at the Collège de Chartres, a French lycée, i.e., a high-school like institution. He died at Chaudon (Eure-et-Loir) on September 1, 1693.>>

[Nitpicker]

I'll bring the Schmidt but I don't have a Cassegrain.

I'm a bit cassowary of that comment, Ms Schmidt.

[Nitpicker]

Agreed. It appears to behave like a party balloon to me. Quite close to Regulus, too, so be on the lookout for balloons as well as asteroids on Thursday:
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... &start=675


Don't you just love this misinformation age?

Party balloon sounds like one of the best answers I've heard.

Thank you

It was one of Chris's answers, I just agreed with it:

It's what a party balloon blowing at 1.5 m/s would look like at a distance of 5000 m.

[Nitpicker]

Oh, and it was Valentine's Day! It was probably a heart-shaped balloon, seen low on the eastern horizon in the early evening from San Diego, blowing eastwards, away from the camera. One can almost sense the argument between two lovers.

[neufer]

It's what a party balloon blowing at 1.5 m/s would look like at a distance of 5000 m.

Oh, and it was Valentine's Day! It was probably a heart-shaped balloon, seen low on the eastern horizon in the early evening from San Diego, blowing eastwards, away from the camera. One can almost sense the argument between two lovers.

[b][color=#FF0000]Valentine Mylar Balloons (flickr, Jekemp)[/color][/b]

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Not that low on the eastern horizon: ~ 3-4-5 Pythagorean triangle with the balloon at about 3000 m altitude.

Mylar Balloon Power Outages surge around Valentine’s Day

ROSEMEAD, Calif., Feb. 7, 2014 — <<Valentine’s Day is a day full of sweet sentiments, but Southern California Edison (SCE) reminds customers of a situation that can turn things sour fast: floating Mylar balloons. Helium-filled Mylar balloons, often given as Valentine’s gifts, can float into power lines and causepower outages or even downed power lines. The resulting outages can last from minutes to hours for homes and businesses, and can lead to inoperable stoplights, property damage and possibly even injuries.>>

[Nitpicker]

Not that low on the eastern horizon: ~ 3-4-5 Pythagorean triangle with the balloon at about 3000 m altitude.

Okay, on double checking, the Moon had an elevation of ~35&deg; at the time. Your 3-4-5 right-angle triangle is not a bad approximation to this.

[Nitpicker]

Oh, and it was Valentine's Day! It was probably a heart-shaped balloon, seen low on the eastern horizon in the early evening from San Diego, blowing eastwards, away from the camera. One can almost sense the argument between two lovers.

Not that low on the eastern horizon: ~ 3-4-5 Pythagorean triangle with the balloon at about 3000 m altitude.

Maybe the two lovers were low on the horizon?

[neufer]

Maybe the two lovers were low on the horizon?

About Schmidt (2002) Quotes

Roberta Hertzel (Kathy Bates): You already know how famously they get along as friends, but did you know that their sex life is positively white hot? The main reason both of my marriages failed was sexual. I'm an extremely sexual person, I can't help it, it just how I'm wired, you know, even when I was a little girl. I had my first orgasm when I was 6 in ballet class. Anyway, the point is that I have been always very easily aroused and very orgasmic, Jeannie and I have a lot in common that way. Clifford and Larry, they were nice guys, but they just could not keep up with me. Anyway, I don't want to betray Jeannie's confidence, but let me just assure you that whatever problems those two kids may run into along the way, they will always be able to count on what happens between the sheets to keep them together. More soup?

Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson): Eh... no, I think I'm fine now.

[Nitpicker]

Eh ... not that low.

[AmericanRoadwarrior]

I posted a comment on the guy's video about having joined an astronomy forum and the consensus is that it may be a party balloon.

He deleted my comment.

[neufer]

I posted a comment on the guy's video about having joined an astronomy forum and the consensus is that it may be a party balloon.

He deleted my comment.

A party balloon popper pooper.

[geckzilla]

I guess the truth isn't out there, after all. I posted a similar comment. Let's see if he deletes it for not being mystical enough. Perhaps I should have parenthetically noted that it *could* be a balloon released from an alien's hands since there are so many of them in California. They mainly come from Mexico.

[AmericanRoadwarrior]

I posted a comment on the guy's video about having joined an astronomy forum and the consensus is that it may be a party balloon.

He deleted my comment.

I guess I wrote that prematurely. My comments are back and were not deleted. They tend to come and go with this new google commentation system.

[geckzilla]

Well, Google is a good scapegoat for these sorts of things.

[AmericanRoadwarrior]

Well, Google is a good scapegoat for these sorts of things.

Yes. Thank you for your help with this Geckzilla.

[geckzilla]

I'm glad the comment wasn't deleted, though. I don't know who this person is but when someone posts about UFOs I tend to assume the worst and figure they only want to use it to reinforce their own confirmation bias that aliens exist and are covertly visiting Earth.

[MargaritaMc]

To me the movement looks like that of a bird flying.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... s-animals/

This National Geographic article says that bar headed geese can fly over the Himalayas: that is about 21,000 feet or nearly 4 miles high.

So, could this be a goose, flying a few miles high, with a wingspan of approx 70 inches, seen through a telescope against the backdrop of the Moon?

What counts against it being a goose is there being just one. But I'd still think that a bird or bat - as Art said - seems the most likely. Or a balloon!

M