Something odd in the sky! Surrey England.

Hi all.

I might be breaking a few T's & C's posting this because it's my first post after my introduction and I'm not sure I have the required 20 whatever's, but I thought it worth posting regardless.

It's Saturday evening here in Blighty and I was just outside having my first cigarette of the day, I do this regularly (but am trying to do it less) .
It's a clear and cold night and as I went outside I noticed a very bright star, much brighter than anything else in the sky... Then it disappeared!

I grabbed my phone and started recording and got this footage..

Now my sky app is telling me that Jupiter, Venuse and Mars are in that area which might explain this but I don't understand the colour change and the disappearing and reappearing.

Can anyone here shed some light on this for me please (excuse the pun)
- [x] Cheers in advance


youtu.be...

a reply to: AnInvisibleCorner

If your sky app is telling you it's Jupiter then it probably is , I'd suggest the dimming is due to cloud.

a reply to: AnInvisibleCorner

I see that to I'm in the east, tbf I've seen a lot of weird action in the sky last couple of days

That was my first thought to but Mars was visible with the naked eye with its unmistakable red hue (albeit a lot dimmer) and that did not disappear.. Sadly it was just out of shot, to the upper left side. a reply to: gortex

I'm just south of greater London... What did you make of it? a reply to: Realiserealies

a reply to: AnInvisibleCorner

Once your camera was settled on it, did you move it at all? Because if you didn't, it appears to have drifted downward a good distance within the three minutes you filmed it.

If your camera was still, then I want to say it looks like a parachuter with flares, especially since it goes dim and it looks like another flare is lit.

Any parachuters in your area?

Venus is very, very bright right now.
in-the-sky.org...


If the OP saw an object and Venus it would be more interesting. In any case, have another look tomorrow.

Its Venus. It`s super bright in the UK at the moment and does keep flickering. Mars is visible at 10 o`clock to Venus aswell atm. (if you get me). Quite a beautiful sight.

a reply to: AnInvisibleCorner

That is interesting, the colour changes I wouldn't put down to cloud coverage alone, it does go through quite a range there. Why is it that genuine ufo sightings are nearly always blurry and hard to define to the naked eye? Let alone try to film them and expect decent results.. Good effort though thanks for sharing.

Well spotted!

My phone was on top of a wall and I was using the flip case to angle it, I suppose the movement could be due to it slipping a bit, I wasn't paying much attention to the phone to be honest.

As for parachutes I've never seen one around here at night or in the daytime. I am pretty close to both Heathrow and Gatwick airports and that part of the sky is a pretty busy corridor. A plane flew over just before I started filming and from my perspective it seemed to be higher.

a reply to: MotherMayEye

I'm going with Venus too just never seen it behave like that before and I look up a lot. a reply to: fenian8

a reply to: AnInvisibleCorner

I know what happened!

A spaceship was hovering between you and Venus, blocking your view.

What could cause the colour change, I thought stars twinkled red, green and white which can be seen with the naked eye while planets are normally solid.

a reply to: Phage

a reply to: AnInvisibleCorner

Did this just happen? It's probably Venus, but there was this today as well
Iridium-1 Launch 1-14-17

a reply to: Phage
Nailed it..

a reply to: AnInvisibleCorner

A common misconception. Planets can also display scintillation under the right conditions.
www.badastronomy.com...

I recorded this at 18:36 GMT.

Thanks for the info. a reply to: Vector99

a reply to: Phage

Good explanation there, put in layman's terms too

As stated, this is a planet, and probably Jupiter if the date of the video is really January 2017 and the place is really Surrey.

If it was something else then half a million amateur and professional astronomers may have had something to say.

originally posted by: AnInvisibleCorner
Well spotted!

My phone was on top of a wall and I was using the flip case to angle it, I suppose the movement could be due to it slipping a bit, I wasn't paying much attention to the phone to be honest.

As for parachutes I've never seen one around here at night or in the daytime. I am pretty close to both Heathrow and Gatwick airports and that part of the sky is a pretty busy corridor. A plane flew over just before I started filming and from my perspective it seemed to be higher.

I still think it could be a night skydiver or some other lit object drifting downward.