Strange star in the sky

Okay, this took me 5 minutes to work out, and I don't own a telescope, nor do I know the first darned thing about the night sky. But when I see Venus in the night sky... it's Venus. It's always been Venus and it always will be. Not the next coming, not that stupid Planet X thing. Nope. It's Venus.
So - I went to a website. Got that.
Try erm space.com or something - you know a place where experts post stuff about the night sky, the types of experts who call stars - stars, planets - planets, and don't take shaky photos.
It has these annoying things called facts. Google "facts".
It also has some accurate information about these danred planets that share our solar system. You'd kind of think that might be the most obvious thing people might think of...
Anyway - it's Venus. Wow - I guessed correct. I must be an expert.
Here's a quote for those of you who might have trouble googling or finding out facts:
Under the heading: Planets Visible Now - February 2009 it says: "Venus:
Venus shines with a stunning magnitude of -4.5 or perhaps even slightly brighter. That's 7-8 times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star. If you go out as it gets dark and look to the west any early evening this month, and do not see Venus -- it's cloudy!"
Well there you are people, amazingly it's not a new star all shimmering, it's not a new planet, it's the same old bright Venus that it's always been...

It's kind of embarrasing to read. It's kind of embarrasing for ATS to not simply pull a post when it is utterly obvious that there's a simple factual google-able (not a word!) answer.

Venus. Venus. That darned bright Venus Planet.

[edit on 16-2-2009 by askbaby]

No offence but my 3 yr old son and 4 yr old nephew know its Venus....I have shown them through stellarium and ms telescope.....unless theres a big software conspiracy to make us think we are looking at something else....its Venus....

I live in southeast Michigan. This exact light appeared out a window while I was watching television on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 7:40PM Eastern time. It was bright and low, very low in the western sky. I watch television with this window right there all the time - never seen this before. Called three neighbors, one of which had a high-powered pair of binoculars. They could see it was oval shape with a light on top and one on the bottom. Occasionally, there was "steam" from the bottom - I'm wondering if this was clouds passing under it. We watched it for 90 minutes. Eventually it moved north and west. My husband is a 30-year police veteran and he had no idea what it was. We don't drink; this was unusual.

Originally posted by impaired
I have seen Sirius for just as long. to the left of Orion in Canis Major. I've always seen Sirius as the brightest blue STAR in the sky.

What I saw tonight was NEITHER. If you don't believe me, no prob. Check it out for yourself.

What I saw was to the left of Orion and like I said, it wasn't Sirius. Siruis is a giant blue star, and I have never seen it look like what I have seen all of a sudden tonight.
[edit on 2/16/2009 by impaired]

Originally posted by impaired

I found Sirius, ok? This was NOT Sirius. I know what a star looks like when it twinkles. This had a different quality. When a star twinkles, being that it is so far away and being that our atmosphere distorts it a bit, It just twinkles.

What I saw didn't twinkle like a star. It just changed colors, and it was above the horizon when I first saw it. It was over one of the apartment buildings past my front porch... South West.

well then, which one is nearby on the left of Orion constellation - beteluguse(top) or 3stars(middle) or Rigel (below)? i don't know what you are talking about. it could be just a regular star......duh



[edit on 16-2-2009 by whiteblack]

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


"This exact light appeared out a window while I was watching television on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 7:40PM Eastern time. It was bright and low, very low in the western sky."

---------------------

Bright Light in western sky - Check

Feb at 7:40 PM - Check

Michigan (northern hemisphere) - Check

Here's a link to what your sky would/should look like at 7:30 in Lansing,Michigan.


i713.photobucket.com...


You most certainly saw Venus, and it would've been completely below the horizon around 9:35pm.

Peace

Ok, I've read through this whole thread, skimming at times and it seems the general consensus is that the object is Venus. First let me say I know almost nothing about the stars beyond the fact that they are beautiful and amazing. I love watching them, observing different eclipses, comets ect. I look up often.

Now, I too have seen this thing and Venus or not it just looks WEIRD. It does not look like the Venus I have seen many times in the night sky even though it is NEAR where I think Venus is supposed to be.

It does move in a strange manner. I don't mean across the sky I mean it moves slightly up and down and side to side and yes it does kinda twinkle like a star, or sort of pulse with color. I don't take pictures cause I only have a stupid cam phone so I have drawn what I see every night for the last month or so now.

I warn you the drawing is crude but, at least its some sort of diagramas to what I'm seeing.





I was under the impression at first that it was Venus as everyone is saying but then I noticed the other two bright stars near the moon and got confused thinking one of them was more likely to be the planet.

So... is this what everyone is seeing? or am I seeing a totally different thingy?

[edit on 2/16/2009 by undiscoveredsoul]

reply to post by Merkabah
Hello. I'm surprised that, living in the UK, you would not have heard about what this bright object might be. Quite simply: it is a sign heralding the imminent appearance into public view of Maitreya, the World Teacher. The object will gradually increase in brightness until it is visible night and day, everywhere. How is that possible? That is the wonder of it. For more info. and recent photos, go to:
www.share-international.org/maitreya/Ma_starsign.htm
And you can thank the BBC for keeping this story suppressed. They have known about it for a very long time.
Bill Pilgrim
Navarro River Watershed
Mendocino County, CA

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
Hey guys check this out-
Seems there are some who are sure they know what this mysterious bright new object in the sky is & have been trying to tell the world for months:
www.shareintl.org...

Well good luck with trying to get people to see the connection.
People are just too slow.

But atleast you and I know.

reply to post by undiscoveredsoul


I think the brightest object you see is Venus, which actually will be at it's brightest and most dazzling this winter in just a few days, on February 19!

But you can check for yourself and also locate other stars and planets in the sky if you dowload Stellarium. It's fun, educational and very easy to use:

Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.

www.stellarium.org...

Originally posted by whiteblack

Originally posted by impaired
I have seen Sirius for just as long. to the left of Orion in Canis Major. I've always seen Sirius as the brightest blue STAR in the sky.

What I saw tonight was NEITHER. If you don't believe me, no prob. Check it out for yourself.

What I saw was to the left of Orion and like I said, it wasn't Sirius. Siruis is a giant blue star, and I have never seen it look like what I have seen all of a sudden tonight.
[edit on 2/16/2009 by impaired]

Originally posted by impaired

I found Sirius, ok? This was NOT Sirius. I know what a star looks like when it twinkles. This had a different quality. When a star twinkles, being that it is so far away and being that our atmosphere distorts it a bit, It just twinkles.

What I saw didn't twinkle like a star. It just changed colors, and it was above the horizon when I first saw it. It was over one of the apartment buildings past my front porch... South West.

well then, which one is nearby on the left of Orion constellation - beteluguse(top) or 3stars(middle) or Rigel (below)? i don't know what you are talking about. it could be just a regular star......duh



[edit on 16-2-2009 by whiteblack]

I'll answer your question with this:

Take Bellatrix. It would be Orion's LEFT shoulder, but it would be on OUR right. Follow that directly right at 3:00. Venus will be right there.

Take Orion's belt and follow it to the left. You will bump into Sirius.

Those 2 are out.

As for your question, it was a little indiscriminate, no offense.
Were you just quizzing me, or were you seriously just asking where the celestial body I saw was in relative to Orion?

I would say if you kept following Orion's belt and went past Sirius, what I saw would be around there. I will check tonight. And I will really really try to map the coordinates...

Originally posted by undiscoveredsoul
It does move in a strange manner. I don't mean across the sky I mean it moves slightly up and down and side to side and yes it does kinda twinkle like a star, or sort of pulse with color.

YES. It pulsed. It didn't twinkle. I know a twinkle when I see one (that sounds funny).

And it seemed to have hauled ass down the horizon about maybe 5-7 times (or more) faster than the other stars... If I were to say any better, It was elusive.

FYI: IMHO this is the easiest star.sky chat to use www.skyviewcafe.com...

Also a great article at www.space.com... about the opportunity to see all five naked-eye planets.

Well after reading those links provided, I have to say that though I still think the bright thingy is pretty strange it almost HAS to be Venus.

In all my 35 years though I can not recall having ever seen it looking thus.

What a wonderful and mysterious thing our universe is eh?

Originally posted by impaired

Originally posted by whiteblack

Originally posted by impaired
I have seen Sirius for just as long. to the left of Orion in Canis Major. I've always seen Sirius as the brightest blue STAR in the sky.

What I saw tonight was NEITHER. If you don't believe me, no prob. Check it out for yourself.

What I saw was to the left of Orion and like I said, it wasn't Sirius. Siruis is a giant blue star, and I have never seen it look like what I have seen all of a sudden tonight.
[edit on 2/16/2009 by impaired]

Originally posted by impaired

I found Sirius, ok? This was NOT Sirius. I know what a star looks like when it twinkles. This had a different quality. When a star twinkles, being that it is so far away and being that our atmosphere distorts it a bit, It just twinkles.

What I saw didn't twinkle like a star. It just changed colors, and it was above the horizon when I first saw it. It was over one of the apartment buildings past my front porch... South West.

well then, which one is nearby on the left of Orion constellation - beteluguse(top) or 3stars(middle) or Rigel (below)? i don't know what you are talking about. it could be just a regular star......duh



[edit on 16-2-2009 by whiteblack]

I'll answer your question with this:

Take Bellatrix. It would be Orion's LEFT shoulder, but it would be on OUR right. Follow that directly right at 3:00. Venus will be right there.

Take Orion's belt and follow it to the left. You will bump into Sirius.

Those 2 are out.

As for your question, it was a little indiscriminate, no offense.
Were you just quizzing me, or were you seriously just asking where the celestial body I saw was in relative to Orion?

I would say if you kept following Orion's belt and went past Sirius, what I saw would be around there. I will check tonight. And I will really really try to map the coordinates...

allright let me know. i'll take a look at that once you get coordinates. or paint in ms paint...

Originally posted by impaired

Originally posted by undiscoveredsoul
It does move in a strange manner. I don't mean across the sky I mean it moves slightly up and down and side to side and yes it does kinda twinkle like a star, or sort of pulse with color.

YES. It pulsed. It didn't twinkle. I know a twinkle when I see one (that sounds funny).

And it seemed to have hauled ass down the horizon about maybe 5-7 times (or more) faster than the other stars... If I were to say any better, It was elusive.

if you are staring at Sirius long enough, it will move up, down, side to side. thats called optical illusion. it plays tricks on your eyes.

[edit on 16-2-2009 by whiteblack]

reply to post by undiscoveredsoul


Yes, the universe is indeed a mysterious and wonderful place.

reply to post by whiteblack



After reading everything I do seriously think I was staring at Venus, I'm just glad I'm not the only one who looked up and said ??HUH?? Cause I did think I was either seeing things or going slightly more insane than i already am.

We should watch for a massive increase in meteor sightings, increase in power outages, increase in, seismic activity.
Sightings of the Aurora Borealis in more southern regions.
More luminous planetary bodies.
Failed crops, droughts.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Phage

You are not seeing Venus. Venus is nowhere near Orion.

Well, I've seen the bright light on Orion's right side, so if it can't be venus, I wonder what it is.

I want to try and get some pictures with reference up here, but it's been cloudy for the last days, here in Holland.

reply to post by enigmania


In all probability you are referring to Aldebaran (one of my favorite star names, it's just fun to say). It is an absolutely enormous star, 44 times the diameter of the sun.

Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus and one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky

en.wikipedia.org...