So close....

So about a month ago I took some astrophotos as part of my project to take photos of all 110 Messier objects. Yesterday I finally got around to looking at them and one caught my eye. A shot of M94, a galaxy in Canes Venatici, caught my eye. Now if you look at the picture below, it looks like there's an object glowing brightly beside the galaxy that looks a bit like a supernova.
So I'm thinking, cool, I've found a supernova. For those of you who are unfamiliar with astronomy, supernova don't happen very often, as a star has to blow up, so there's some fame that comes with the discovery of one. Anyhow, a check of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams didn't show anything for M94 (as NGC 4736). Ok, looking good, as a discovery, but I'm new at the astrophoto game so I think to myself, better get a confirmation observation.

So I set the 'ol telescope up in the back yard. but can't find M94. The problem of living in a large city is that 8th magnitude galaxies are hard to find due to the light pollution. Ok, no problem I think, I'll head out to the club observatory where it is darker, and use the larger telescope to boot. So tonight rolls around and it's socked in... cloudy horizon to horizon. Arrgh!

So I decide to revisit the pictures. As it turns out, the blob only shows up in one photo. Closer examination showed that the stars were also doubled:
So the blob is actually the centre of the galaxy. For some reason the telescope drive drifted for a bit then stopped, causing the second blob. So much for fame. In any event, here's a better shot of the galaxy:

So the lessons from this? One, always check your plates (photos) as soon as possible. Second double check them, as not everything is as it seems. Third, there's a reason confirmation observations are always needed. Finally, I really need to work on my astrophotography.