What's That In The Sky?

Over the last week or so I've noticed a lot of things in the sky that just seem out of place. This post doesn't have any of my photos or video because my camera will not pick up anything dimer than the moon but I'll add some if I ever get some. First off I've noticed in the last few months there has been TONS of air traffic around here, keep in mind I live in a very small town and we do have an airport (for sky diving and personal planes nothing commercial) but our planes usually fly over the town next to us and this is still way more traffic then what comes and goes at the airport. Huge amounts of commercial planes, jets, and helicopters have been flying over our town and just recently too. No one else seems to pay it any attention, I tried talk to my mom about if but she blew me off. Maybe I just over looked it till now too. The next thing is something not new to me but very perplexing. The first time I saw it I was I think middle school age and I was outside at night with a neighbor boy and we were watching this odd light bob it's way across the sky it looked like a flame, the boy told me it was a hot air balloon and at the time that made sense and I let it go, I went years without seeing it again even though I spend lots of time outside at night. Well last year I started seeing it again and I kept seeing it. I saw it just the other night and I looked into things, There are no places around here that send up hot air balloons and every video I've seen of one flying at night looks nothing like what I see. Maybe it is one but it just makes so little sense. But there's more to my story. The next part has to do with some more "natural" things. Stars. The one big thing I noticed just recently was a formation of really bright stars that form a almost perfect isosceles triangle.



It seems to be the formation called the Summer Triangle but I just don't understand why I'm just now seeing it, as I've said I spend plenty of time looking at the night sky. What strikes me odd is that Deneb the star in the lower left hand corner seems to flash (that's the closest word to describing it) But maybe my eyes are going or I'm not as good at watching the stars as I thought. The last thing is lots and lots of shooting stars and VERY bright close ones too. I tend to see one faint one once a week or so if I look real hard but lately it's every night when I'm not even intentionally looking for them they shoot past as bright as can be. I guess a lot of this can just be chopped up to me not pay as much attention to things as a thought I did but there's something in my gut that just makes this all feel so weird.

The light has to be just right to see the summer triangle. Too much light pollution and it fades out, dark skies make it harder to see what with all the other stars that show up. As far as the extra shooting stars lately, we're going through a particularly dusty part of space now and have been for a while - many people think we're passing through the same 'space' over and over again as we circle the sun but it's always 'new' space to us, uncharted waters as it were. We've never been *here* before. This video has a nice way of showing it, and the music is gorgeous:

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Well at lest I'm not completely losing it and there is some logic to parts of this. lol Thanks for the info.

The Perseid Meteor Shower is passing Earth and peak activity will be August 11&12.
Commercial air traffic, for your local airport, may have a new route.
No ideas on your other observations.

a reply to: ezramullins

Had no clue I guess I just have to keep an eye out to see more of the shower. And I guess they could have it just seems odd after all these years.

This will show you the commercial and cargo flights overhead in your area with a five minute delay; I don't think military are included; reportedly 88,000 flights (!) globally every day... click on the plane icons to get a pop up showing the flight origination, destination and other info:

www.flightradar24.com...

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

That's really neat thank you.

a reply to: HextiraRipply

We have a clear, unobstructed view of the triangle from all angles on the property, and have been watching it nightly for months. I had never heard of it before, so I looked it up to familiarise myself with its typical "behavior" in the sky, and found some puzzling inconsistencies with what we are actually observing.

For one thing, it does not always appear in the same area of the sky. Frequently, it appears in the western sky and then in as little as an hour later will have moved to the opposite side of the sky.

It also changes positions in the sky numerous times during the same night...sometimes within less than an hour's time. I've searched for some explanation for this, but the only info I can find is the natural progression of its position relative to the rotation of the earth, which would make perfect sense...if that's all this thing does. But it isn't.

Regarding the direction it points in, I can only find that it appears to point downward when viewed in the southern hemisphere in winter. Well...I'm in the northern hemisphere in the summer. So is it just free-form in this hemisphere then? That seems unlikely...yet it changes direction routinely, night after night, at different times, and often in the same night.

There are also nights in which it changes direction, yet never changes its position in the sky...never traverses as it should with the progression of the skyscape caused by the planet's rotation. It simply disappears from view, and sometimes it is mere minutes from the last time we viewed it...and on perfectly clear, cloudless nights.

Two nights ago, for example, I took my dog Butch out for a walk around the lake shortly after 9pm. It had just gotten fully dark and the triangle was visible very high to the west, pointed upward and toward the west, Altair lined up with my right shoulder when facing it directly. I watched it, as I always do, the entire walk, and marked its location in the sky once again before heading back inside to make sure it had not changed...our nightly walks are typically about an hour long, as a reference point.

At 10:45pm, I took our other dog Daisy out and, as per usual, looked for the triangle. Sure enough, it had moved over so that Vega appeared very low in the middle of the sky with Altair, the point, turned downward toward the treeline. It stayed in that position until 3am, after which point it vanished from view.

Last night, it appeared again in the same position, and during the course of the night it changed both location and direction several times. I have been watching this thing now ever since I first noticed it back in the middle of May, and several other people have also witnessed exactly what I have.

I view it through binoculars too, and the stars look like ordinary stars, quite pretty actually, but perfectly normal...using other bright stars as a frame of reference. The oddities we've observed have been mostly its recurring erratic movement/placement in the sky, with the exception of the stars themselves changing color as well, and also multiple times in the same night...but that is fairly easy to explain away, as far as I know.

We have observed a blinking effect with both Vega and Altair, several times simultaneously and in tandem with each other, but again, I think there is probably an explanation for that as well.

I am in no way saying that just because I personally do not find the flashing to be abnormal as you do, it renders your perspective invalid; I want to make that clear. I just wanted to let you know that there are plenty of other things that are odd about it too...at least in our little slice of sky.

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

I've had a clear view of that thing regardless of the amount of light in the sky since May. One night recently, when the Moon was 98% full and extremely bright, the triangle appeared higher than I've ever seen it and looked like it was framing the Moon, with the Moon appearing in the center of it. The sky was incredibly bright that night, and I live in a large city of about four million souls who love their buildings as brightly lit as possible.

In fact the only times I have not been able to see it at all have been during the heavy cloud cover of a thunderstorm. Even through moderate cloud cover, this thing is so bright that it is easily visible, while other bright stars and even the Moon are completely obscured for hours at a time. This is with the naked eye, too, no binoculars or telescope.

a reply to: HextiraRipply

I presume that you live in Madison, WI? You have "Masison" which I expect is a typo?

Also try the following app for your mobile or tablet. Simply point it at the aircraft or into the sky to see the flights. Remember to read the how it works as there are limitations as to what aircraft can be seen.

www.flightradar24.com...

To see your air traffic picture.

skyvector.com...

Type KMSN (International Civil Aviation Organization code for Dane County Regional Airport) into the left hand "Flight Plan" Box and click "Go". This will centre the map on Madison Dane County Regional Airport.

Click on the "World Hi" tab on the right to see the upper air routes.

Click on the "World Lo" tab on the right to see the lower air routes.

You live in a region where there will be lots of air traffic.