Supports· moderateTRN-E014
Coma aberration reported in Hamburg transient images
- what the source states
- Working with 532 plate pairs (1934–1957) from the Hamburg 0.6-m Doppel-Reflektor — chosen because its parabolic optics produce strong off-axis coma — the author reports that transient candidate images exhibit the coma aberration pattern expected from off-axis point sources recorded through the telescope optics, a signature plate artifacts cannot naturally reproduce; the paper states the data do not by themselves establish the physical origin of the light.
- what we infer
- Potentially the highest-information positive development in the case: a physical discriminant between light-through-the-optics and after-the-fact marks that does not require the original Palomar negatives. Everything now rests on whether the discriminant survives blind validation against known defects and deliberately produced short flashes (TRN-R003).
- limitations
- Single-author preprint; the coma classifier has not been blind-validated, and defect classes that mimic directional asymmetry have not been excluded.
- Applies to Hamburg candidates only; it does not validate any Palomar event.