A search for the Perseus flasher and the limits on optical burst rates

Abstract

We conducted a study of the error box of the possible optical burster, reported by Katz et al. (1986). This "Perseus Flasher" was subsequently identified with satellite glints by Maley (1987), a conclusion with which we fully concur. Our study, completed before Maley's report, involved a search for highly-variable objects on archival and newly-taken plates, with a total integration time of about 260 hours, a proper-motion survey of the area, deep optical imaging with a CCD, and a single-dish radio monitoring. We found no optical or radio bursts or any other unusual objects in this area. Our upper limit to the optical flash rate from the error box of the flash photographed by Katz et al. is at least 20 times lower than the flash rate reported by those authors. Similar negative results were achieved independently by other groups; like them, we conclude that the photographed flash was most likely caused by an Earth-orbiting artifact and that most of the remaining, visually-detected flashes were spurious. From our data, we derive limits on the optical flash rates from astrophysically-interesting sources.

Files

Additional details