Candidate: 20504984 (RA: 23.170898 Dec: 16.315388)

This is a discussion thread for SETI@home candidate # 20504984 (located at RA: 23.170898 Dec: 16.315388)
Please feel to exchange thoughts, comments, questions and answers regarding this particular candidate.
For more information, please read the NTPCkr Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

Matt Lebofsky,
You might take a quick look at this one.

This message is part of a discussion i was having with Donegal_TDI in the science forum here.

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Ok, so i plot 8 of the candidates in the current top 10 list using the RA and DEC for each candidate inside WWT(Microsoft WorldWide Telescope) and i take a screen-shot of each one as I'm going along.
candidate numbers;
20582818
20582801
20504996
20493683
20499128
20504975
20496034
20504984

This is where the candidates are located in the sky;



Here is a plot of those candidates;



So then looking at the positions of the candidates, the three on the right hand side don't seem to have an obvious pattern or orbit. In fact none of the candidates seem to orbit Alpha Pegasi (Markab) at all! They look like they orbit something else!


But the 5 candidates on the left of Alpha Pegasi (Markab), do appear to have a pattern. They look like they are orbiting something that i cannot see in the image? So i roughly plot what might be an orbital plain for these 5 candidates, its marked as a green ellipse in this next image;



So far this seems to make sense. But in WWT, i am viewing the sky using the Digital Sky Survey (Optical). So i start searching for other telescopes that have surveyed the same part of the sky but in different wavelengths. So then i discover the "2MASS" sky survey (Two Micron All Sky Survey). Now the 2MASS survey shows many more objects that are not visible with other telescopes. So i take a screen shot of the same part of the sky around Alpha Pegasi (Markab), and i superimpose the image on top of the candidate plot i made.

This is the result;



The 2MASS survey does show some type of star located almost in the middle of the orbital signal plot i made.

Now look, i can't actually find any decent image of this unnamed star sitting to the upper left of Alpha Pegasi (Markab), so i really don't know what it is or what the name of the star is? but what i can say is that our 5 candidates appear to orbit something, and this unnamed star is in a position that looks quite close to the centre of the orbit.

This is the best i can do to show a closer image of the star that our candidates look like they are orbiting;



Here is a close-up screen shot of the unnamed star;



In my opinion, i do find this apparent orbital pattern for our candidates, and the unnamed star quite interesting. We could hypothesise and say that the candidates could be a radio source of some kind that might be on a planet orbiting the unnamed star. If it is a radio source on a planet, we are not going to be able to see the planet either way, we can only see the star.

John.
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To further add to this message, i have a picture of the unnamed star mentioned in the previous post that our candidates appear to be orbiting.

The cordinates of the star are;
RA=23:09:52
DEC=15:49:32

Here is a link to the image of the star on the STSIC website. Unnamed star

This is the image of the star;



John.

You could have a match if the distances to the star and candidates match up. But can SETI calculate the distance to a target with only 2 coordinates without taking a listen 6 months apart?
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I agree Bill,
Look several people have now noticed the fact that 8 of the top 10 candidates are in one local area. And i have plotted 5 of these candidates and they look like they have a possible elliptical orbit around something.

These are the 5 candidates i think might have an elliptical orbit;
20504996
20493683
20499128
20504975
20504984

As seen here;




I have to admit, i cannot guarantee the accuracy of the way i plotted the candidates, i did it the best way i could, it should be pretty close. But i cannot say for sure that i have the coordinates of the star in the middle.

The star sitting at RA=23:09:52, DEC=15:49:32 could possibly be in around the middle of the 5 candidates, but i cannot say this with any accuracy. I only have a small PC and i have pretty crappy graphics skills.

To do this properly, we need a very large sky map of the area around Alpha Pegasi (Markab), with grid lines and markings. And we need someone with the ability to accurately plot these candidates. I could start again and plot them but i would end up with something similar.

John.
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Misfit wrote:

You could have a match if the distances to the star and candidates match up. But can SETI calculate the distance to a target with only 2 coordinates without taking a listen 6 months apart?

i don't think the 5 candidates on the left of Alpha Pegasi (Markab) are orbiting something. they LOOK like they are close together, but the distances between them are probably very large. we don't know how far away from us these points are.

***Important Notice!***

Today, i went back and rechecked my plots, and i think its important that i admit that i made a mistake in my original plot! And i apologise for this!

When i rechecked the RA and DEC position for the 5 candidates i plotted, it seems that i must have plotted one of the positions wrong, it was my mistake for rushing as i plotted the positions, i was just excited when i saw the candidates were all appearing in the same area of sky.

The candidate 20504996 was plotted in the wrong position in the original images. When i rechecked the plot, this candidate had the wrong declination coordinates.

I have corrected the mistake in the following image. This next image shows candidate 20504996 in the correct position. With this correct position, now there is NO Obvious Elliptical Orbit anymore. I do apologise for being hasty in posting misleading information and images. I think its better that i admit my mistake rather than mislead people further.



I am sorry for making this mistake,
John.
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...
The candidate 20504996 was plotted in the wrong position in the original images. When i rechecked the plot, this candidate had the wrong declination coordinates.
...
I am sorry for making this mistake,
John.

Maybe an updated version of the NTPCKr could include the RA/Dec error for each observation or, if these are constants, then perhaps show the region of interest on a skymap (i.e. not crosshairs). The temptation at present is to assume that the sky co-ordinates are accurate to the quoted 6 decimal places.

it warrants a second pass in my opinion.
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I recommend Secunia PSI: http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/
Go Georgia Tech.

You care to transport the tapes half way around the world. clearly sending data files over the internet would be bandwidth prohibitive. 50gb wouldnt play well with the seti/berkeley network

***Important Notice!***

Today, i went back and rechecked my plots, and i think its important that i admit that i made a mistake in my original plot! And i apologise for this!

When i rechecked the RA and DEC position for the 5 candidates i plotted, it seems that i must have plotted one of the positions wrong, it was my mistake for rushing as i plotted the positions, i was just excited when i saw the candidates were all appearing in the same area of sky.

The candidate 20504996 was plotted in the wrong position in the original images. When i rechecked the plot, this candidate had the wrong declination coordinates.

I have corrected the mistake in the following image. This next image shows candidate 20504996 in the correct position. With this correct position, now there is NO Obvious Elliptical Orbit anymore. I do apologise for being hasty in posting misleading information and images. I think its better that i admit my mistake rather than mislead people further.



I am sorry for making this mistake,
John.

and that means what in plain language please, for those of us who are not gifted with the talents of math and astro coordinate system.
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I recommend Secunia PSI: http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/
Go Georgia Tech.