Weird star again...

Ok a while back i posted a thread about a strange looking star i saw in the sky. It was really bright and i didnt know what it was. I checked stallarium for it but couldnt find any star in that vicinity that bright.
We later concluded it was venus. I realized there was a tree in the 3d rendered stellarium software that was blocking the view of venus.

Well, last night i saw the star again. It felt like it was getting brighter(again) and i was confused how venus is still up in the sky and hasnt drastically changed positions(it should be rotating around the sun just like we are, hence why you only see spectacular views of planets once in a while).

Well i checked the software again and this time there was really no venus. The star was in the north-northeast direction.

The closet thing i saw was vega, but this thing was BRIGHT.

Can Vega really become as bright as venus?

I will try to film this thing tonight and give you guys exact details.

I have actually been seeing a really bright star for the past few weeks. I actually thought it was a helicopter or plane but I've been seeing it on and off in the same position.

It could possibly be the sun reflecting off a satellite too. I just find it new and weird.

I SEE IT....it's still venus
right there where it should be, yep it's bright but what about the other out of place mars, i saw three months ago rising too far north. it was in an atmospheric ripple or something made it appear bright, then a double image for 5 minutes then went to normal. it seemed out of the equitorial plane, to the north

[edit on 13-6-2010 by GBP/JPY]

reply to post by demonseed


I was on my back deck last night and I believe I was looking at the same star or planet. I was also wondering what it was. I even looked through my binoculers, but it didn't help. I think I saw it earlier this year and evryone seems to say it's venus. But it seems to stay in the same spot and is very bright. I expect we're going to be told it's Venus. i really can't say?

What is your location and what time did you see it? It will make it easier to identify with those.
Vega looks to be the "only" bright star in that region. I use Neave for quick reference online, and used my location in the US Midwest. It can be amazing how bright something looks if that is the only reference point. Compared side-by-side with Venus it would look very dim; alone, very bright. That would be my first guess.

i think this is what you have been seeing. in the low northeast sky early am.

www.universetoday.com...

Originally posted by GBP/JPY
I SEE IT....it's still venus
right there where it should be, yep it's bright but what about the other out of place mars, i saw three months ago rising too far north. it was in an atmospheric ripple or something made it appear bright, then a double image for 5 minutes then went to normal. it seemed out of the equitorial plane, to the north

[edit on 13-6-2010 by GBP/JPY]

still keeping saying its venus?

[edit on 13-6-2010 by Agent_USA_Supporter]

Originally posted by demonseed

Can Vega really become as bright as venus?

Vega is actually one of the five brightest stars in the sky, so it is very possible that it is this star you are seing.

How to see it

Observers in the northern hemisphere can see the star Vega come into view over the northeastern horizon on a soft spring evening in May. You can look for Vega and its constellation Lyra in the early evening eastern sky in June – high overhead on autumn evenings – in the northwestern quadrant of the sky on December evenings.

Vega is easily recognizable for its brilliance and blue-white color. You can also easily pick out its constellation Lyra, which is small and compact, and consists primarily of Vega and four fainter stars in the form of a parallelogram.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b566c1acc6ad.jpg[/atsimg]

Vega is the 5th brightest star visible from Earth, and the 3rd brightest easily visible from mid-northern latitudes, after Sirius and Arcturus. At about 25 light-years in distance, it is the 6th closest of all the bright stars, or 5th if you exclude Alpha Centauri, which is not easily visible from most of the Northern Hemisphere. Its distinctly blue color indicates a surface temperature of nearly 17,000 degrees F, making it about 7,000 degrees hotter than our sun. Roughly 2.5 times the diameter of the sun, and just less than that in mass, Vega’s internal pressures and temperatures are far greater than our sun, making it burn its fuel faster. This causes Vega to produce 35-40 times the energy of the sun, which in turn shortens its lifetime. At about 500 million years, Vega is already middle-aged. Currently it is only about a tenth the age of our sun, and will run out of fuel in another half-billion years.

You can read more about Vega here:
earthsky.org...

I've had my eye on a star like this for a while. I know where to look for it, but I am not good with directions.

It think it is North west.

Anyway, I saw this one star get really bright yellow and then fade out. It was a clear night so I thought it wasn't clouds going over it. None of the other stars faded out. It went from super bright, brighter than venus then faded out over about ten minutes time. If I stared at the spot I knew it was, I could still barely see something was there.

If you are on tonight, I can give you some information on what your seeing, if you see it tonight. just U2U me.

reply to post by Agent_USA_Supporter


wait a minute, venus is the morning star right now, huh?...i'll have a looky, if it is the morning.....that could explain my mars out of the equitorial plane bit...BTW, the night sky websites are wacky these days...i'll be right back after a looky!

reply to post by Agent_USA_Supporter


hey, tell what ya thinkin?....venus is out in the evening, but i'm real curious about what you think because things are getting freestyle these days!

Originally posted by GBP/JPY
reply to post by Agent_USA_Supporter

 

wait a minute, venus is the morning star right now, huh?...i'll have a looky, if it is the morning.....that could explain my mars out of the equitorial plane bit...BTW, the night sky websites are wacky these days...i'll be right back after a looky!

Venus is an evening star at the moment.

Currently the moon is moving into that area, so will make seeing more difficult in some areas.

Regards.

myself, I've been seeing what looks like 2 stars that are so close together as to almost be touching in the eastern sky about 4:30 am when I go for my morning run. I think its usually to the right of the moon at that time.
I dont remember ever seing 2 stars that close together so if any amateur astronomers can help me out I'd appreciate it

Please Take Photos of it.



[edit on 13-6-2010 by Agent_USA_Supporter]

i saw it in the uk at 11pm last night, went as bright as the moon and very big and flashed down into a smaller star again, very odd, came from north

Originally posted by stars15k
What is your location and what time did you see it? It will make it easier to identify with those.
Vega looks to be the "only" bright star in that region. I use Neave for quick reference online, and used my location in the US Midwest. It can be amazing how bright something looks if that is the only reference point. Compared side-by-side with Venus it would look very dim; alone, very bright. That would be my first guess.

i live in los angeles CA.

i saw it around 9:20 ish p.m. (21:20) .

I put my location and time into stellarium and the only star i saw was Vega up there.

But you really have to believe me when i say this, it was REALLY bright. It stood out from everything you could easily spot it.

Ill have to check harder and see if that is in Lyra. Im not that good at spotting constellations but i did get an A in astronomy lol.

reply to post by demonseed


I'm looking out the window of my home office and I can see it clearly and bright, but from inside i can't see any other stars. It is 11pm right now and it sits low in the sky northwest from Moncton N.B.

Originally posted by pigwithoutawig
reply to post by demonseed

 

I'm looking out the window of my home office and I can see it clearly and bright, but from inside i can't see any other stars. It is 11pm right now and it sits low in the sky northwest from Moncton N.B.

well... at about 9 pm you would be seeing Capella. That star has a weird orange glow and i used to be very interested in it so make sure it wasnt that star.

At 11 PM though... the only thing close is Saturn and Mars. Both of which are not necessarily bright.

This will be interesting. I am going to check for this star again in a few minutes right now.

I saw it too, to me it seemed to appear closer than any planets usually get.