Astronomical transients in 1950s Palomar plates validated through optical aberration analysis
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[Submitted on 6 Jun 2026]
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Summary
This paper examines fast astronomical transients detected in Palomar sky survey photographic plates from the 1950s. The authors address criticism that these transients could be plate artifacts by demonstrating that the transient images exhibit coma aberration patterns characteristic of off-axis point sources recorded through telescope optics—a signature that plate artifacts cannot naturally reproduce. While the data doesn't establish the physical origin of the light, it supports hypotheses that explain transients through real astronomical phenomena rather than instrumental effects.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledThe 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.
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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