The Moon....Who saw it last night and tonight.

I saw the moon this morning while taking a shower and it did look at bit quite high. (I saw it through my bathroom window). I usually do this every morning, follow the pattern and see it go lower to the west but this time, it just stood there. I'm sure there is a scientific explanation for that.


On a separate note, there was something about it that just completely made me stand there and just hypnotized by it. I couldnt get my eyes off it and it was almost like like I went into a trance. Never happened to me before. There is something odd and different about it.. I just dont know what...

Originally posted by ArMaP

Originally posted by Frira
Next, imagine yourself closer to the equator, and the with your body on the ground, head pointed north-- as you look at the moon, the orientation is the same as the view from the north pole-- the "right side" as it rises will be the same as when it sets-- always to your right, the "top" always pointing north, and so on.

That's more or less the same thing I said here.

I always wondered who invented lying on the ground with one's head pointed north. Cool.

More so than the moon, I'm weirded out by the bright light in the east sky that everyone keeps saying is a planet... what is it? A month ago I looked it up and the response was it's Venus, this month I look it up and the response is it's Jupiter? It's the same light, follows the same path every night Northeast to Southeast, and I (being origionally from near Canada with extensive star gazing experience) have never seen anything remotely like it. What seems so strange is that it doesn't get brighter or dimmer depending on it's location in the sky, proximity to the moon, or time of night. It's there every night visible to me from 8pm until dawn. My husband and I are both star gazers, both having seen the red and green/blue flashers, shooting stars, comets, and recently erratically moving lights that never last longer than 10-20 seconds that change color to red/orange immediately before fading out (these moved sideways and increase/decrease speed... my hubby didn't believe me until he saw one, planes don't zig zag left to right 3 inches to the visible eye.) That light though... the Venus/Jupiter whatever planet suits the purpose explanation doesn't explain why it seems to be getting bigger. How can one planet be named a different name if it's in the same orbital path, I've been watching it every night and I thought that planets are only visible sometimes to the naked eye? I'm not using a telescope or anything... I have a picture from last month when the explanation was it's Venus, so now the same light is Jupiter?

reply to post by busterbunni


Everyone is saying it's Jupiter. Take a picture, it looks like it has eyes. I don't know. I swear you will see a shadowy figure too. And I can swear it has eyes. I deleted that picture but it shows the definition of an eye. Telling you. lol I think it's something else. What, I don't know.

Originally posted by busterbunni
I have a picture from last month when the explanation was it's Venus, so now the same light is Jupiter?

Jupiter and Venus aren't the same, and the sky doesn't stay the same from month to month.

Just download Stellarium and it will show you what planet you saw last month and what planet you're seeing now (if they were indeed planets). Simply adjust the date/time to the date/time of your sighting.

reply to post by Arbitrageur




Stellarium doesn't explain the same light at the same brightness in the same point of sky at the same time every night, it is telling me last month it was Venus, this month it is Jupiter... it's the same light.

Sorry but after spending 20 years in the Northern most part of the US (30 miles from the nearest town), I've seen my fair share of weird stuff up there, but when I pointed it out to my hubby at first he told me it was the north star... I quickly corrected him. This light is visible with or without the moon present, and hasn't gotten any dimmer except behind cloud cover. That was another thing I found odd, it was visible through light cloud cover when the moon was not.

spaceweather.com...

Check out the pic with the guy standing under the moon... that bright light named Jupiter was being called Venus last month. As I said I have a picture of it from a few weeks ago and I'm taking one tomorrow so that the moon hopefully won't be in it. My husband tried to prove me wrong by looking it up and he was the one that pointed out that they are calling it a planet but a different planet depending on where the moon is located around it. Mars is out, Orion is on fire tonight and Venus/Jupiter is brighter than the moon. Crazy times.

reply to post by busterbunni


It's even way bright in the morning. I got a morning picture of it too.

Originally posted by busterbunni
Check out the pic with the guy standing under the moon... that bright light named Jupiter was being called Venus last month.

By whom? Not by Stellarium.

Stellarium always refers to Jupiter as Jupiter and refers to Venus as Venus. You may be confused, but Stellarium isn't.

reply to post by Manhater


Another weird aspect it doesn't seem to be reflecting light because it maintains is brightness from dusk to dawn with or without the moon, yet maintained the same path everyday for well over a month now, visible every night without a telescope of any kind. I must correct myself though it's going Northeast to Southwest. I also have never in my life seen any planet that bright to the naked eye for weeks on end.

Originally posted by Arbitrageur

Originally posted by busterbunni
Check out the pic with the guy standing under the moon... that bright light named Jupiter was being called Venus last month.

By whom? Not by Stellarium.

Stellarium always refers to Jupiter as Jupiter and refers to Venus as Venus. You may be confused, but Stellarium isn't.

Stellarium is for people that believe the goverment is looking out for your best interest. Personal experience and observation are key to a well rounded education.

So this thread went from the moon not looking like the moon.

To

Jupiter not being Jupiter?


What's next?

The sun list really a giant birthday cake with really bright candles?

Or is that a new thread.

reply to post by TheOven


Are you saying that Venus last month was as bright and in the same exact orbital path as Jupiter is this month? How could Jupiter have been visible last month from south Texas?

Originally posted by busterbunni
Stellarium is for people that believe the goverment is looking out for your best interest.

No, I don't think the government is looking out for my best interest. But I have yet to find a problem with Stellarium.

Personal experience and observation are key to a well rounded education.

Personal experience and observation are great. Now can you find one case of personal experience and observation from any person anywhere that has been documented to contradict what Stellarium shows?

reply to post by Arbitrageur


My own, my husband actually was told by Stellarium and another website that last month the brightest light other than the moon was Venus, which is why when he looked it up a couple of days ago since the light was still there he was amazed that they are now saying the brightest light other than the moon is Jupiter. He looked at the diagrams of where to find each, but he didn't expect that the name would change considering the path the light travels didn't. It isn't like the light disappeared for a few days, its there every night.

I see the Moon this morning at around 6.30am,
and it was so bright I didn't need to switch my kitchen light on!
I can still see it now,
not bright as the Sun is up! But it looks quite big.

Originally posted by busterbunni
but he didn't expect that the name would change considering the path the light travels didn't. It isn't like the light disappeared for a few days, its there every night.

What date did the name change? We can look up the night before and the night after to confirm it changed the name of the planet.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


Because he only looked up the light online with stellarium and the other websites twice I can't say when the first time was but it was early Sept. (first weekend I believe), the second time he looked being yesterday. What do you think they will call it next month?

Originally posted by busterbunni
Because he only looked up the light online with stellarium and the other websites twice I can't say when the first time was but it was early Sept. (first weekend I believe), the second time he looked being yesterday. What do you think they will call it next month?

Next month, Jupiter will be called Jupiter, and Venus will be called Venus, same as this month, same as last month.

Did it ever occur to you that between those two times you checked, Jupiter might have become more prominent?

Just click the date setting on Stellarium and it will back up the date one day each time you click it. If you do one day a second it will only take 30 seconds to go back 30 days. I'm sure you'll see it didn't change any planet names, but I suspect you'd rather adhere to your misconceptions, than check it.