While processing frames of comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) taken with a Seestar S50, I noticed an unusual feature on three consecutive frames.
It doesn’t look like lens flare to me. Could this be a meteor train?
Exposure: 10 seconds each
Frame times:
- 19:59:08
- 19:59:20
- 19:59:31
📷 C2025-R2-SWAN-Meteor.gif
My suspicion is more along the lines of lightening bugs
churmey · Nov 1, 2025 at 02:01 PM
My suspicion is more along the lines of lightening bugs
Thanks for the reply. I haven’t thought of bugs.
This was shot in a city. I know there are some fireflies in the lake nearby during the summer, although I’ve never seen one in the town in October.
Wouldn’t the light from such a bug be entirely out of focus?
Depends on how far away they were from you. Up close, i would think yes, but the light flair would be larger. Far away, they would be more in focus and the flare would be smaller.
andrea tasselli · Nov 1, 2025 at 01:51 PM
Not meteor trains/trails.
Any idea what caused it then?
I would be interested to know what makes you say it is not a meteor.
andrea tasselli · Nov 1, 2025 at 03:37 PM
They move in straight lines, for one…
Indeed, but the vaporized tail may be very wobbly when dispersing in the atmosphere. You can find many pictures of meteor trails with similar trajectories, hence my question.
Maybe you’ve never seen such images?
andrea tasselli · Nov 1, 2025 at 04:42 PM
Nothing like this, the path is actually swerving this way and that and change rhythmically in brightness (itself very suggestive of bioluminescence). Nothing like the dispersal trails of bright meteors. Which are rather uncommon.
Thanks a lot!
I was looking at images like this one, although such a trail is usually visible much longer, as I understand.
A bug would indeed also explain why it moves, rather than just dispersing in place.
It makes sense. A luminous bug is a first for me as well, so that’s cool anyway! 😂
Jean-David Gadina · Nov 1, 2025 at 04:54 PM
andrea tasselli · Nov 1, 2025 at 04:42 PM
Nothing like this, the path is actually swerving this way and that and change rhythmically in brightness (itself very suggestive of bioluminescence). Nothing like the dispersal trails of bright meteors. Which are rather uncommon.
Thanks a lot!
I was looking at images like this one, although such a trail is usually visible much longer, as I understand.
A bug would indeed also explain why it moves, rather than just dispersing in place.
It makes sense. A luminous bug is a first for me as well, so that’s cool anyway! 😂
We don’t have fireflies out in the desert, but we do have a lot of different species of moths and I’ve seen similar wiggle patterns in subs. I’ve always attributed the patterns to moth’s wings reflecting random light from my neighbor’s or my own home’s lights.
Wouldn’t even need to be a firefly if there’s enough local lighting…