Why discarded cases matter
Rejected rows are not wasted. They define the boundary of the target and prevent the system from becoming a generic strange-light archive.
The Yakoruda/Bulgaria-style pattern, for example, is useful as a control: red/orange, falling, physical residue and iron oxides point toward reentry/combustion, not the target family.
| False-positive type | Rejection signals |
|---|---|
| Meteor / bolide | Seconds-long duration, fast path, trail, fragmentation, smoke, fall, CNEOS-compatible event. |
| Reentry / debris | Reentry trajectory, multiple fragments, residue, oxides/metal, orbital correlation. |
| Lantern / balloon | Many sequential objects, same route, wind drift, holiday dates, fade by combustion. |
| Aircraft / drone | Regular blinking, red/green/white lights, ADS-B, rotor/turbine sound, airport routes. |
| Satellite / ISS | Straight constant motion, shadow fade, TLE compatibility, no hover or direction change. |
| Lens flare / bokeh | Fixed relation to bright source, camera-locked motion, donut only from defocus. |
| AI / social media | No original file, extreme compression, viral aesthetics, repost without witness, engagement farming. |