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PreprintCC BY 4.0arXiv

Fast Astronomical Transients in Archival Photographic Plates: Using optical aberrations as a tool for discerning real images, from plate artifacts

  • Ivo Busko
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Abstract

The detection of fast astronomical transients in photographic plates from the Palomar sky surveys conducted in the 1950s, was subject to the criticism that such transients could be just the effect of otherwise unaccounted for plate artifacts. In this paper, we show that transient images exhibit the coma aberration pattern expected from off-axis point sources recorded through the telescope optics, a signature that plate artifacts cannot naturally reproduce. Although the data does not by themselves establish the physical origin of the light that generated the images, they lend support to hypotheses that do not rely on instrumental effects to explain transients.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{busko2026fast,
  title = {{Fast Astronomical Transients in Archival Photographic Plates: Using optical aberrations as a tool for discerning real images, from plate artifacts}},
  author = {Ivo Busko},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2606.08319},
  eprint = {2606.08319},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.08319},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Fast Astronomical Transients in Archival Photographic Plates: Using optical aberrations as a tool for discerning real images, from plate artifacts
AU  - Ivo Busko
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2606.08319
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.08319
AB  - The detection of fast astronomical transients in photographic plates from the Palomar sky surveys conducted in the 1950s, was subject to the criticism that such transients could be just the effect of otherwise unaccounted for plate artifacts. In this paper, we show that transient images exhibit the coma aberration pattern expected from off-axis point sources recorded through the telescope optics, a signature that plate artifacts cannot naturally reproduce. Although the data does not by themselves establish the physical origin of the light that generated the images, they lend support to hypotheses that do not rely on instrumental effects to explain transients.
ER  -