Orion capsule visible?

If you are on the east coast of the US, you might notice there is a full moon. Just below it you might notice an orangish "star". I think that is the orion capsule earthbound. I think this because the color is not like any other star I've seen. I've tried taking a picture, the moon is too bright. But easily seen with the naked eye.

a reply to: inert

That would be Mars or Jupiter

Orion is far too small to be seen with the naked eye

a reply to: M5xaz

Definitely not mars - not red/pink. Stellarium shows mars above the moon and slightly left. Jupiter is nowhere in the field of view. It's not as bright now, you might need to be in the Mississippi valley by now. The angle of the sun made it really stand out.

I'm in the eastern half of the US and I've been watching mars on my evening strolls for the past week. What you're seeing is mars. It's looking stunningly orange lately, very pretty. It isn't always pink or red as seen from earth's atmosphere. :-)
Look at this star chart, especially around 5 through 7 PM. The red planet is right below the moon.
www.timeanddate.com...

Orion isn't bright enough to be spotted with the naked eye, but if you've got a telescope, you might have a shot:
www.unistellar.com...

As of Dec 1, the Orion module has officially started its return journey after a burn that will send it around the moon once more and back on track to Earth. That means you can get ready to observe it heading towards us, starting on Dec 6: Dec 6th: Orion will be at ~15.5 mag, just bright enough to be observed with an eVscope. However, it will only be 10 degrees away from the full moon, so it is still difficult to observe. Dec 7th: Orion will be at ~15.4 mag, but farther away from the moon at 34 degrees separation. Dec 8th: Orion will be at ~15.2 mag and 36 degrees from the moon. Dec 11th: Splashdown!

You can scroll down and see some images of how it would look.

a reply to: inert

Stellarium shows mars above the moon and slightly left.

No, Stellarium shows Mars "below" the Moon. I guess we can't post images anymore?

In fact the Moon will soon be occulting Mars for some. Very cool.

in-the-sky.org...

"Here's a timeline for the lunar occultation of Mars on Wednesday (Dec. 7).
This week, the Red Planet is at opposition, meaning it forms a straight line with Earth and the sun, with Earth in the middle. In this alignment, Mars will appear brighter than usual and be much easier to see in the sky. Mars is at opposition just once every 26 months. In addition to being at opposition, this week will also see a lunar occultation of Mars on Wednesday evening (Dec. 7). An occultation is an event in which one object appears to pass behind another in the sky, completely disappearing from view. In this case, Mars will disappear behind the moon and reappear an hour later"

www.space.com...

a reply to: Phage

Very difficult to get an image because of the brightness of the moon. I tried with several cameras. All bloom. OK, I guess false alarm? Where I am it faded out as the moon moved. Not visible now. But it is somewhere in the line of sight even if not visible.

a reply to: inert

It's probably behind the Moon. Check again in an hour.

I don't pay close attention to these things but did notice it earlier. Assumed it was Mars but it did stand out to me. Seemed to be closer to the Moon and in a different position than I've noticed before. Just seemed different. That's all.

a reply to: BrokenCircles

That's what got my attention. Much brighter and not pink/red like mars is normally. I was thinking maybe this is like the iridium flares where they are much brighter for a few moments just because of the sun angle. But if the collective wisdom says, that was mars. OK. I'll accept it.

a reply to: inert

No more Iridium flares. The last of the first batch of satellites fell down a few years ago and the new ones don't do the thing.

It's a bummer. It was fun to do a magical hand wave when a flare was going to happen. Impressed the hell out of some folks more than once. Sort of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court thing.

a reply to: Phage

Just out of curiosity, does Mars wobble at all? Saw something that I would swear was Mars. However, it did some weird stuff. It would sit still for a minute, then move a bit, almost in a bobble back-and-forth motion. This was a couple of nights back; I was just really shocked to see anything moving up there aside from the occasional plane we get from the regional airport or the National Guard moving around. This was very different and appeared outside of the atmosphere; then again, I had no frame of reference aside from it being behind clouds for a moment. I'd feel a lot better if that was Mars I'll say that.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: inert

No more Iridium flares. The last of the first batch of satellites fell down a few years ago and the new ones don't do the thing.

It's a bummer. It was fun to do a magical hand wave when a flare was going to happen. Impressed the hell out of some folks more than once. Sort of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court thing.

Did you watch Jeopardy yesterday?

a reply to: ColoradoTemplar

Haven't in years. Just ain't the same without Alex.

a reply to: Hypntick

No, Mars does not "wobble."

But there is this:

Alexander von Humboldt observed the phenomenon in 1799 while looking at stars with the naked eye, but thought it was a real movement of the stars. Thus, he named them "Sternschwanken", meaning "swinging stars". It was not until 1857 that G. Schweitzer (Schweitzer, 1857), an early German psychologist, discovered that it was a subjective phenomenon. Many sightings of UFOs have been attributed to the autokinetic effect when looking at stars or planets.

Autokenetic effect

a reply to: Phage

Just so happens that Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court was one of the questions. How strange I have been seeing a lot of synchronicity the past few weeks. Very odd.

a reply to: ColoradoTemplar

What was the answer?

a reply to: Phage

I can't recall. I will have to look it up and let you know. Very cool you mentioned Twain.

a reply to: Phage

That's a pretty good explanation of things. It honestly makes me feel better to have a likely cause of what my wife and I saw. It was just a little weird and off-putting since you don't see something like it every day. I appreciate it!

a reply to: ColoradoTemplar

Very cool you mentioned Twain.

We happen to both have the same (real) first name.
Weird, huh?