7/18/2005 8:35:03 AM Pacific Standard Time

Mr. Steadman,

The SOHO pic at this URL appears to have been aggressively modified:
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/javagif/gifs/20050717_0042_c3.gif
The large object at 10 o'clock relative to the solar disc appears to have been rather crudely painted over.

When I zoom it way in, it becomes apparent that the anti aliasing is not present as and where it should be.
The top and bottom of the object are excellently anti-aliased (that is the fuzzy area where one color gradually fades into another).

But the middle part looks like someone scribbled over the object but forgot to anti-alias the color transitions, and forgot to increase the palette size.  It appears that someone painted this .gif file with a mere  256 colors, which prevents anti-aliasing, as that requires 64M colors in the palette to make it look convincing.  This does not look convincing nor natural.  The large object over near Saturn is perfectly anti-aliased, by way of comparison.

It is ok to take my word for this, as I do web graphics and coding for my livelihood.  This is sent from my work email so that you know I am legit.   I could have doctored this picture much more convincingly, they should call me ::grin:: (lol) 

I have looked at literally thousands of SOHO photo files by now, and know how they ought to look.

I could also be wrong about this.  This effect could perhaps also be caused by a sharply delineated albedo on an object that close to old Sol.   That still doesn't explain what this critter is, nor the voluminous other SOHO anomalies I see and zoom in for analysis in 1024x768 almost every single day.  Yes, not unlike that Portuguese website…thank you for posting that link, BTW.

I know this sounds crazy, but a lot of times the SOHO anomalies look like potentially artificial objects?  I didn't actually say spacecraft, but that is a primary example of an artificial object…that might be near the Sun, especially if that is how they acquire their fuel.


Amateur Astrophysicist
and unrepentant SOHO addict