Unusually bright (brightening) object in the sky today.

reply to post by wildespace


I was almost blinded (well, I exaggerate a bit) by Venus the other night when I stepped outside. It just jumped out and caught my attention, though I wasn't even looking for anything when I went out, just to get some firewood. Anyway, I looked on Celestia, and it says that Venus had an apparent angular diameter of 1/2 arc minute, which is half the size that should be visible with the unaided eye. So what gives? It is so bright that magnitude, even though it is only a reflector, trumps size? Or is it being magnified by the atmosphere when it is so low down?

Aye, Venus is very bright in the SW just after sunset at the moment.

Even I was initially confused a week or so back when it appeared through a coincidental break in the cloud cover and due to its ow altitude (and probably some thin cloud) looked a bit orangey ...... First time I'd seen it since it became a bright evening star. Thought at first it was an aircraft .... It was still there a week later in clear skies though

Pardon me if this has been discussed...

What is this?

(Stupid video warning. But interesting)

GogoVicMorrow
reply to post by zilebeliveunknown

 

Southern Ohio, facing SW.

I'm staring to think its Venus, the behaviour may be the inexplicable part.

Yea it is Venus, I has been really bright this month. I wonder if the comets are affecting it.


The Bot

GaryN
reply to post by wildespace

 

I was almost blinded (well, I exaggerate a bit) by Venus the other night when I stepped outside. It just jumped out and caught my attention, though I wasn't even looking for anything when I went out, just to get some firewood. Anyway, I looked on Celestia, and it says that Venus had an apparent angular diameter of 1/2 arc minute, which is half the size that should be visible with the unaided eye. So what gives? It is so bright that magnitude, even though it is only a reflector, trumps size? Or is it being magnified by the atmosphere when it is so low down?

Did you mean to say "half the size that should be resolvable with the unaided eye"? A bright light source is still visible as a point of light even when its angular size is below our eyes' resolving power. Speaking of which, Venus at its largest angular size can be visible as a tiny thin crescent by people with particularly sharp vision. I remember seeing it as a kid once.

I know this thread has waned a bit, but if I may interject my observations here as well...

I first noticed an inordinately bright star, planet, light (whichever it is), in the sky the winter of 2010-2011 and looked it up on the internet to find that there was big news about Mars coming as close to the earth as it's been in MANY a year. I continued to watch it as I had never seen a light in the sky as bright as I'd seen this one, and I've been watching the sky since I was a child with intense curiosity.
Over the course of the year, the "light" only grew in intensity as the months rolled on and again... I looked on the internet to read that NASA, Astronomical societies and the like all called it Jupiter this time... '... closest it's been to the earth in many years'. With renewed and continuing interest, I bought a telescope and began a closer look at it over the passing months as it grew brighter and brighter. Last summer I got a very clear image of it through my telescope and saw a single band running vertically crossed its face running from both of the termination points (western edge to eastern edge). Admittedly, my telescope isn't strong enough to see the colors of the band but it was a dark band crossed a very light colored face. The thing I thought odd was looking up an image and noticing multiple color bands that cross Jupiter, not one.
Now, every night this year I see the same VERY bright light about 30 degrees from the horizon in the NORTHEAST sky (unlike what you all have mentioned in this thread).
Now here's the odd part to that last bit, a few months back, around February, I once again looked up on the internet, "what is that bright light in the sky?" and found the same folks with credentials as long as my arm, claiming it to be Venus '... as close to Earth as it's been in many years'.
Now I ask you, which is it? Mars, Jupiter, Venus, or something else?
Here's where it may get a little hinky and for some, "a little paranoid"...? Possibly?
5 years ago, I happened across a small article that mentioned a... well; let's say astronomical phenomenon far greater then a single body in space. What's more, this phenomenon has been mentioned throughout the millennia as far back as the first known written language of the ancient Sumerians, then the ancient Egyptians, the Celts and finally, here again in our day and age, the planet Nibiru.
Now before you dismiss what I've said and am about to say, please do some research of your own as I have and draw your own conclusions. I myself am a "Show Me" kind of person and am not convinced of ANYTHING until I've seen it myself (which I have not). I've seen, read and listened to terabytes of information on Sumeria, Ananaki, Ankh, Nibiru, the list goes on. Do yourselves a favor and watch 5 short 8 minute videos and see if you're convinced to either read on, or discount what you've learned to that point.

Marshall Masters was a CNN producer who was "asked" to resign when he aired a broadcast on this subject with experts and translators and the like. Since then, he has spent several years on this subject and has discovered a great deal of interesting information. I say "interesting" because as I said, I'm not convinced until I've witnessed the "second sun rising" in the sky, noticed the HUGE weather changes, witnessed the MASSIVE aquatic life beachings due possibly, to massive magnetic disturbances in the Earth's field, witnessed the "strange sounds coming from the sky", the Magnetic North Pole moving over 200 miles into Siberia, seen the "government arks", "doomsday seed vault" in Greenland was it? I'm not convinced that the article written in 1983 stating '...an object of intense speculation has been discovered at the edge of our solar system..' in a prominent magazine is actual, nor do I believe that there's a connection between that article and the mad rush to the South Pole to put up the Infrared telescope which is to see what... bodies of heat that cannot be seen with the naked eye, posting images to the internet on a daily basis. I don't believe there's a connection between the IR telescope and the articles written prior to and since, that there's an object shrouded in dust such as an unborn star, or "Brown Dwarf". I don't believe there's a connection between any of this and the multitude of imagery I've seen of this "Brown Dwarf" and "objects" circling it. You know, most people would consider orbiting objects around a Brown Dwarf (not fully ignited star) to be moons or, dare I say it??? PLANETS?!
It's also documented by EACH of the ancient civilizations afore mentioned, that this astronomical phenomena returns approximately every 3600 years. Isn't it strange that historically speaking, there has been some sort of massive catastrophe that wipes out large portions of civilization around the world at almost that exact time frame?
Let me drop a BIT more of speculation for your consideration... Everyone knows about the Earth's electromagnetic shield, the magnetic properties of the sun and each of the planets in our solar system. Let's further recognize that the physics of this world are based SOLELY on what we "know" and can measure, the constants, the variables and so on. All this compiled gives us "Our Physics". Now imagine throwing into that equation, a MASSIVE change in our knowns and variables such as what I've mentioned before which I will sum up as "A solar system" (a star with celestial bodies circling it) approaching. Let's further assume that in the many articles I've read that the "Red Dust" enveloping this heat signature in space is as they suggest, IRON. Iron dust would come from... Iron. Now we're talking about a massive magnet which has been suggested to be 1/3 larger than Jupiter. Imagine what would happen to "Our Physics" as this ball of iron grows closer and closer... say, massive beachings, shifting of the poles, the Earth's wobble worsening creating 5-8 day changes in the weather going from warmer than normal to colder than normal (historically speaking for that time of year), massive earth quakes intensifying in magnitude and frequency, more volcanic eruptions over the past 5 years then in the past 200!!
Imagery of a comet or an asteroid shooting across the sky can be photographed as a streak in the night sky. Over the course of several nights, photos are taken to show direction, trajectory, speed, composition, etc. Now imagine photographing a point in the sky with 5 points of light in the sky in the first night. Over the course of the next several months, 2 things become evident using the IR telescope; the 5 points of light appear to move... AROUND a "heat source" as in "orbiting" and they're orbiting a heat source that is growing in DIAMETER. Now I'm no scientist or mathematician, but a growing point of light on the road while driving at night, means the headlights are getting CLOSER. Not just closer, but moving in a straight line towards me. This heat source has no visible tail, which means it COULD be directly behind it.
Now, I ask you. Does this prick the interest of anyone on this thread?
I know it did for me!
Your Own World - Marshall Masters

kadmir
in the sky the winter of 2010-2011 and looked it up on the internet to find that there was big news about Mars coming as close to the earth as it's been in MANY a year.

Yes, there was big news, but it was recycled doom porn from years before.
There was an opposition of Mars, but in January 2010, and it was a very poor distant one... as also the next one after, of March 2012.

kadmir
... claiming it to be Venus '... as close to Earth as it's been in many years'.
Now I ask you, which is it? Mars, Jupiter, Venus, or something else?

I myself am a "Show Me" kind of person and am not convinced of ANYTHING until I've seen it myself (which I have not). I've seen, read and listened to terabytes of information on Sumeria, Ananaki, Ankh, Nibiru, the list goes on.

You missed the most important step:
Getting away from the computer, going outside and seeing for yourself.
Reading web pages about Nibiru, and watching doomsday youtube videos doesnt help at all in identifying objects in the night sky.
Getting some star maps and going outside, learning stars and constellations, does.


Also, because the positions of the planets and stars in the sky changes as time goes by, and is also somewhat different perspective from different parts of the planet, a google search is almost useless in identifying such things.

A more useful technique would be to learn the night sky, then be able to ask narrow questions like "what is the object 1 degree west of Spica, at ... time, on ... date, as seen from ... location?"

alfa1

Yes, there was big news, but it was recycled doom porn from years before.
There was an opposition of Mars, but in January 2010, and it was a very poor distant one... as also the next one after, of March 2012...

You missed the most important step:
Getting away from the computer, going outside and seeing for yourself.
Reading web pages about Nibiru, and watching doomsday youtube videos doesnt help at all in identifying objects in the night sky...

All of which I had done, including NOT missing the step of getting out of the house and educating myself, I should have explained myself a bit better. For that I apologize.
As soon as I saw a star in the sky far brighter then any I could recall having seen in the sky, I looked it up on the internet... to include trying to identify it. I located the area in the sky, compared magnitudes, times, dates, declinations, etc and wasn't able to put a label to it. I was a member of the Boise Astronomical Society and since I wasn't nearly the smartest person in the room, I asked a LOT of questions but no one could identify it absolutely. There was a lot of ' I think it's...' and 'I'm not sure but I believe...'.
So, quite obviously, I did more then just sit in front of a computer. I'm also smart enough to understand that the earth rotates on it's axis and revolves around the sun, rather than the sun around the Earth and so on...

And to reiterate, it was THE brightest in the sky and it was NOT the North Star, Betelgeuse or any other high magnitude star or planet. They were identified in different parts of the sky.

Yes, I did watch a "doomsday video" or 2 as I was searching the web, that doesn't mean that I put any credence in them whatsoever. Although from what I'm getting from you, we may have different ideas of what is a "doomsday video".

reply to post by kadmir


Stellarium is a very useful free planetarium software which shows what's in your sky right now (or at any point in the past or future), including all the bright stars and planets. (don't forget to specify your location and time zone)

If you were looking in the easterly direction after sunset, the very bright object is most likely Jupiter.

On a general note, thousands of amateur astronomers look at the sky every night, tracking and taking pictures of planets, comets, asteroids, etc. So if there were any new bright object, or anything unusual happening in the sky at all - they would notice and start talking about it. There would be requests for confirmation, measurements being performed, anouncements, blogs and websites posts being made about it... in short, we would hear about it - from reliable sources (not from Nibiru Youtube videos and crank websites).

As alfa said, getting familiar with the sky and its cycles, with the way planets move and appear in the sky, will be very useful for the times you look at the sky and wonder what's up there. Venus is very easily identifiable as a very, very bright planet near the horizon after sunset or before sunrise. Jupiter is the second brightest planet, and can sometimes (for example, at this time) be seen throughout the night, getting fairly high up in the sky. Saturn and Mars are much fainter, and appears as a yellowish and reddish "stars" respectively, that shine steadily and don't twinkle.

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


Yes Venus and it is going to get brighter. I believe the 6th December is going to be particularly bright?

earthsky.org...

No doubt there will be countless videos and observations of people freaking out at this 'UFO' in the sky around the first week in December. I expect that there will be lots of videos showing it to be a 'diamond' or 'orb' shape followed by doom and gloom and that professional and amateur astronomers are all wrong, etc. It is just a camera artifact.

I have been seeing that in the western sky for months.
I keep getting told it is Venus but I know it is not because lots of times i see Venus at the same time, this object last time I had a clear sky and saw it was a bit brighter than Venus, it also appears to twinkle or pulse like a star whereas Venus is more like the moon and does not twinkle. I have some pictures taken with a junk camera on my phone that have the object, Venus, and the moon all 3 in it.

I think it could be a geosynchronous satellite with large solar panels that are at an angle reflecting the sun.
And It looks the way it does because of the atmosphere and the way your eyes see it making it look like it is farther away than it really is. That is only my opinion and I am no expert, however I am a avid sky watcher at night because I love to look at the stars. I grew up in a very rural area with no light pollution and spent several nights in the bed of a pick up with girlfriends looking up at the sky. That may sound stupid to some people who have never been out where you could really see the true night sky. Something about it makes or made girls feel romantic (I hope know what I mean by that)


I have tried to zoom in on it with a camera but can not get it to focus well enough to take a good picture.
There are hundreds of youtube and comments on other web forums about this.
Some of the pictures and Videos are Venus, others do show it but people ruin the video by zooming in too close and it takes the diamond shape of the camera optics. It is impossible to tell them the shape they see is the camera and not the object and then call me a shill/debunker.

I personally do not have a good enough camera but I am going to get one and a tripod and try to get a good shot of it.

reply to post by tommyjo


you must have posted your comment while I was typing mine.
I have almost resorted to pulling my hair out trying to convince otherwise intelligent people that when you zoom in on something like a star it will look diamond shaped because of the camera.

The classic comeback from them is if that is why, explain the same shape from 2 or 3 different brands or type camera.

jessintn
I have been seeing that in the western sky for months.
I keep getting told it is Venus but I know it is not because lots of times i see Venus at the same time

I have tried to zoom in on it with a camera but can not get it to focus well enough to take a good picture.

Dont bother with the camera.
Instead, get a pen and paper and draw a star map of that part of the sky, labelling location, time, direction and any constellations you know.

reply to post by wildespace


Thank you for your suggestion, although I have used 4 or 5 different starmapping software. I find that there can be very slight variations in them, though they seem to be nearly identical in their locating and naming stars, locations, dates, times etc. This particular light has a few different names or isn't named at all.
I will keep searching as I have to date. I simply wanted to throw my 2 cents in for what it was worth.

Good luck all, in your search and findings.

okamitengu
google skymap for android.

its pretty awesome at identifying things!

Yea, it is great... there are several of them.. love it... it is little off here but not enough you can't figure it out... the only way to go....

I have noticed, jupiter, i think it is, has been getting brighter... not sure why that is... just figured maybe our orbits are making it so....

the bot

I live in Helena MT . I was driving home from Great Falls MT tonight at about 5pm and there was a very bright light in the sky about due west for the whole time home about and hour and a half. It would get bright and dim but im guessing it was the clouds..... It was brighter than any star or planet. Anyone have any guesses as what it could be???