[dmill1220]

HI Folks
just to keep you updated on the situation,
I had also sent in inquiry to the IRSA and I finally got a response from their Scientist, here is the latest, its sounds promising but it wont come easy.




Summary: There seem to be a problem with a dss1r band 1956 image, it shows a star that does not appear in any other Dss 1956 image or ...



Change: Disposition: [Open - Not Reviewed] to [Need Customer Input]
1 name added to the notification list: Dennis Miller
**** Added Comment dated 02/16/07 ****
Comment By: Davy Kirkpatrick
Date: 02/16/07
Notes: Dear Dennis:

I've looked at the (J2000) position you noted, and I see the object you mention. It doesn't look like any of the kinds of plate defects I've seen in the past, but it appears to be a bit elongated, not round. None of the other images in FinderChart, including the r and i images from SDSS that go deeper, show the object seen in the R-band DSS1 image.

One idea is that this is an asteroid whose position was streaked across the R-band DSS image during the course of the exposure. For the other images, the asteroid was no longer in the field.

To do a bit more follow-up, I checked the dates and times of both DSS1 images (from the POSS-I survey) using the FITS headers. Both were taken on the same night but weren't simultaneous. These dates and times were --

B-band plate: 07 Apr 1956 at 10:25 (UT?), 8-min integration
R-band plate: 07 Apr 1956 at 09:42 (UT?), 45-min integration

It's unlikely that an asteroid of normal colors would be invisible in the B-band if it was still in the field. Given the short amount of time between the two plates and given the streak length in the 45-min exposure, the asteroid would easily have been in the field for the B-band exposure. Furthermore, the ecliptic latitude of this field (+50.9 degrees) means that the asteroid hypothesis is less likely. To make a long story short, this probably isn't an asteroid streak either. That's especially true if you saw this on your own image from a different epoch.

The most direct check is to have someone scrutinize the actual plate from which the R-band scan was taken. The plates, I believe, now live on Palomar Mountain. At last report Jean Mueller (jem@astro.caltech.edu) was the curator of these, so you might want to ask her.

Good luck!

---Davy Kirkpatrick, IRSA Project Scientist
Resulting State: <No State Change>
end message:

My next step is to contact Jean Meuller,
Iam stll waiting to hear from MR Zolt at the ESA,
I have got my fingers crossed!
Dennis