Last night beneath the moon...

Did anyone towards the east coast happen to look near the moon last night?

I'm still unsure what it was, but my brother was looking also.

It was VERY bright, way brighter than any other star in the sky, so i was assuming it wasnt a star. It looked as if it was just right outside of the earths atmosphere. My brother and I 'thought' it was moving a bit left and right, we both observed it moving the same directions at the same time. It was a bright white light with what looked like some greenish beams at times.

Anyone know if this was just a star? It was directly below the moon, and a little to the left. I always look up to the skies at night and never noticed anything this bright.

[edit on 19-10-2005 by noslenwerd]

Yeh i saw it too, and the wierd thing is that it was not their the night befor.latelly really bright stars and color changing stars have been showing up and diseapering the next night, and i could have sworn that one of them was moving last night at about 8:40. I am starting to think that they are not even stars. If anyone has an explanetion for this can you please tell me.

I think I saw this kind of thing you're talking about. I think it's Mars or Venus because I read somewhere on space.com that the two planets are visible to naked eye right now.

If you're looking east it Mars.

Make that southeast.

[edit on 19-10-2005 by intrepid]

Mars was very nice.
Mars has been very bright here on the So California coast in the past week. Lots of wind/rain washed the haze/smog from the LA basin.

[edit on 19-10-2005 by nullster]

Mars sets off a reddish orange glow. The difference between a star and a planet is simple to tell. A planet does not twinkle. It only shines reflected light, it's not a light source itself so a planet doesn't flash like stars. Venus can often have a greenish glow and often blue, especially when down low on the horizon. Depending on atmosphere conditions it can behave as you have mentioned. If there has been rain and the atmosphere is clear then Venus can be very bright, appear to move and and be very colorful. i think though that venus is "the morning star" at the moment and out early morning.

The moon is in a different position each night as it travels around the earth in 28 days. So it will be in a different constellation each night, different positions to the planets as well. So it makes sense that you did not see a stellar object there the night before, sitting under the moon.

Sirius, the dog star is also in that section of the sky at the moment, rising not to far away southish from Orion and is in the east in the evening. Sirius projects all those qualities, it is one of the, if not the, most beautiful star in the sky. It certainly is the brightest with the biggest magnitude. Its Blue green to the naked eye and the flash can make it look like its moving. Betelgeuse is red so its probalby not that although when betelgeuse rises it can be a spectacular rainbow of consecutive reds, greens, blues and Canopus can be like that to but once risen is more blue. I think Canopus would have been too high.

Other than that... *shrug, I disn't see anything unusual although I was outside around that time. I am in southern hemisphere though and I think after my "extra moon" the other day, if I had seen a jumping flashy greeny thing then I would have booked myself in for a holiday and long rest



[edit on 19-10-2005 by Mayet]

Mayet and everyone else are correct; it's Mars, which is getting closer to Earth all the time (I think it'll reach its closest point in a couple of weeks).

Originally posted by Off_The_Street
Mayet and everyone else are correct; it's Mars, which is getting closer to Earth all the time (I think it'll reach its closest point in a couple of weeks).

i believe that point was actually on aug 27th when it was at its closest point.

I saw it too. i live in Reading, UK (so you boffs can get my co-ordinates) and I saw the big, bright thing this morning under the moon, about about 225 degrees round, if you know what i mean, so it was sitting sort of below and to the left of the moon.

I was showing my little girl the moon and stars on the way to the childminders when we saw it. Shrugged it off as a planet (well, she said it was a star,but she is only 2, bless her), but thought you guys could corroborate that from the info I gave.

Originally posted by intrepid
If you're looking east it Mars.

Make that southeast.

[edit on 19-10-2005 by intrepid]

sort of.. more south though...

here i was bored and made a little diagram



It was weird though because i was almost positive it was moving. oh well

You can use this free program to view the sky last night. Use the spanner icon to set your location, and use the rewind buttons.

stellarium.sourceforge.net...

I reckon it was Mars too btw.

The chinese comming back from space maybe?

Originally posted by kungfoo
You can use this free program to view the sky last night. Use the spanner icon to set your location, and use the rewind buttons.

stellarium.sourceforge.net...

I reckon it was Mars too btw.

wow thats an awesome program.. thanks!

yeh last saturday evening I was out with my lil sis cleaning the car and saw the same thing and was weirded out for a minute but then remembered that a friend of mine had mentioned something about a planet being close.

Its definately Mars your seeing.

Everyone should check it out because it will be a long time before it will be this bright in the sky again. The year 2287 to be exact.

Yes yes yes, saw it last night, but it was on the right side of the moon (maybe cause of the area i live in (Staff's, Uk folks) it was really bright we noticed it after band pratice

Doesn't anybody else here have Starry Night? If not, just gimme a place and a time to plug in, & I'll let ya know what I find.

Firstly, the moon MOVES, so it could give off the illusion that it was moving.

Secondly, planets can twinkle as much as stars. What's the difference in their lights that can magically stop them from twinkling? Twinkling is caused by atmosphere interference. Hot and cold layers of air distort the light and make it seem twinkling.

Thirdly, yes, it was probably Mars or even Venus. Planetes can give off an extremely strong (in comparison to other heavenly objects) light when they're just right.

Originally posted by lost_shaman
Its definately Mars your seeing.

Everyone should check it out because it will be a long time before it will be this bright in the sky again. The year 2287 to be exact.

Yea it is pretty amazing, twice as bright as any star in the sky right now. If you have really good eyes you can actually make out the roundness too it

Originally posted by HokkaidoHillbilly
Doesn't anybody else here have Starry Night? If not, just gimme a place and a time to plug in, & I'll let ya know what I find.

whats starry night?

Starry Night is a commercial star viewing program.

Like the Stellarium program I posted a link to, but not free...