SharpCap Forums

hi all, first post here, hope it's the right place.
while preparing to train the ppec of my mount, i noticed some faint moving objects in the field of view. clearly visible frame by frame. since it was the guide cam, the fov wasn't that large. so i switched from phd2, to sharpcap and started a livestack. the telescope was pointed at gamma pegasi, 1000mm focal lenght, qhy678m in an off axis guider. so the attached file is a livestack out of sharpcap, the elongated objects were moving fast. because of the oag, the stars aren't beauties, but stars...

because of the small fov and i guess my own talents, plate solving failed, even with the d80 data set.

astrometry.net solved one of the images:
Center (RA, hms): 00h 10m 28.658s
Center (Dec, dms): +27° 31' 08.428"
Size: 25.7 x 14.2 arcmin
Radius: 0.245 deg
Pixel scale: 0.406 arcsec/pixel

i am based in southern bavaria, germany, doing astronomy since the 1990s, started on film, seen a lot, not new to the game.

any ideas , what this could be?

here are the settings out of sharpcap (with gamma pegasi coordinates):

2026-09-23T19:43:49.9150458Z

[QHY5III678M]
CameraSerialNumber=
FrameType=Light
Output Format=FITS files (*.fits)
Binning=1x1
Capture Area=3856x2180
Colour Space=MONO8
Pan=0
Tilt=0
Exposure/Gain Shift=0
Auto Exposure Sample Area=Full Frame
Auto Gain Limit=100
Auto Exp Target=100
Auto Exposure Limit=1000
Force Still Mode=Off
Enable Live Broadcast=Off
USB Traffic=9
Offset=20
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=80
Exposure=10,000s
Timestamp Frames=Off
Contrast=0
Brightness=0
Gamma=1
CA Reduction/Synthetic Blue=Off
Mask over exposed pixels=Off
Flip (after dark/flat)=None
Trail Width=3
Minimum Trail Length=100
Trail Detection Sensitivity=9
Remove Satellite Trails=Off
Background Subtraction=Off
Planet/Disk Stabilization=Off
Banding Threshold=10
Banding Suppression=0
Apply Flat=None
Dark Scaling (Experimental)=Off
Hot Pixel Sensitivity=5
Subtract Dark=None
DisplayStretchEnable=1
NegativeDisplay=0
Display Black Point=0
Display MidTone Point=0,5
Display White Point=1
Notes=
Moonlite DRO Focuser Driver=4271
Focuser Temperature=15
ASCOM GS Sky Telescope=RA=00:09:43,1,Dec=+29:17:41 (JNOW)
TimeStamp=2026-09-23T19:43:49.9150458Z
SharpCapVersion=4.1.14310.0
TotalExposure(s)=300,00000299521554
StackedFrames=30
LiveStack.SaveRawFrames=WhileNotPausedOrDithering
LiveStack.AlignFrames=True
LiveStack.Derotate=True
LiveStack.StarsForAlignment=10
LiveStack.StarDetection.Sensitivity=75
LiveStack.StarDetection.SuppressHotPixels=True
LiveStack.AlignAutoDisabled=False
LiveStack.ReduceNoiseAmount=0.5
LiveStack.BrightnessLimit=85.65721
LiveStack.FilterBrightness=True
LiveStack.AutoBrightnessLimit=True
LiveStack.FWHMLimit=9.528379
LiveStack.FilterFWHM=True
LiveStack.WarningThreshold=5
LiveStack.StackingMode=1
LiveStack.SigmaClipInitialCount=5
LiveSack.SigmaClipThreshold=2.6507936
LiveStack.SigmaClipLowLimit=1.1058201
LiveStack.AutoSaveReset=False
LiveStack.AutoSaveResetMinutes=60
LiveStack.LogarithmicHistogramHorizontalAxis=False
LiveStack.AutoSave=True
LiveStack.BlackLevel=3.4596376
LiveStack.WhiteLevel=99.60327
LiveStack.MidLevel=8.618609
LiveStack.WBB.db=6.0002756
LiveStack.WBG.db=0
LiveStack.WBR.db=1.9296925
LiveStack.Saturation=1.7096915
AutoStretch.Strength=2
LiveStack.StarDetection.FaintStarsOptimization=True
LiveStack.StretchMode=1
LiveStack.CometStarRemovalSize=45
LiveStack.AlignOnComet=False
LiveStack.CometThreshold=0.1
LiveStack.StartOnClear=True
LiveStack.AutoDisableDisplayStretch=False
LiveStack.SaveStackLog=True
LiveStacking.MaxStarSize=50
LiveStacking.NewStackOnReopenAfter60s=True
LiveStacking.AutoStretchWithColourCalibration=False
LiveStacking.SelectedReferenceWhite=Default
LiveStacking.AutoSave16Bit=True
LiveStacking.AutoSave32Bit=True
LiveStacking.AutoSaveWithAdjustments=True
LiveStacking.AutoSaveWithDisplayStretch=True
LiveStacking.CalibrationDarkAlignCentile=50
LiveStacking.LinkedBackgroundAdjust=False
LiveStacking.BackgroundIncludeBalance=False
LiveStacking.Guiding.RequireGuiding=True
LiveStacking.Guiding.AutoDither=True
LiveStacking.Guiding.ShortExposuresWhileAdjusting=True
LiveStacking.Guiding.CountSecondsOrFrames=0
LiveStacking.Guiding.AdjustmentInterval=3
LiveStacking.Guiding.Enabled=True
LiveStacking.Guiding.RecenterEnabled=False
LiveStacking.Guiding.RecenterMovementThreshold=25

Hi,

I must admit that I have no idea - hopefully someone else will!

I did manage to get the image to solve in SharpCap (oddly, only using the lowest density star catalog, which shouldn't really cope with that FOV with any certainty, but it seems to work in this case).

You can see that the streaks from the objects do not align with either the RA or Dec axes (you should ignore the up/down/left/right indications - they would be for this co-ordinate with my location and date/time, not the location/date/time of the capture)
One possibility that did occur to me - based on your location/direction of view, could you have ended up looking at a patch of sky that contains geostationary satellites orbiting roughly over the equator?

cheers,

Robin

Hi Robin,

thanks a lot. i was wrong with gamma pegasi, as target region, it was alpha andromeda, the declination of this area is +27°.
at -5°or even at +5 i would agree instantly with geostantionary satelites, it was one of my first thoughts as well, but at this high dec... and they should drift along RA, it think.
will try to get the seqence animated later, maybe it helps.


cheers
andy

Hi Andy,

yes, it would be interesting to see if the streaks align somehow with the direction of drift of the image - if that was the case then we might be looking at simple hot pixels or similar.

cheers,

Robin

Hi Robin,

hope this link works:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14BcSKb ... drive_link

at first glance i would say reflections or straylight. on the otherhand: there is a no light leak at my newtonian. 1m dew cap, rear end covered, focuser covered, imaging train close and covered.

oh, just read about that broken satelite:
https://x.com/s2a_systems/status/210014 ... m-all.html

no idea about it's orbit, but ... maybe...?

cheers
Andy