Originally posted by biggie smalls
Yes SonofMan I know what you are talking about.
I try to look up at the night sky (day sky too) every night.
I have been noticing two bright lights, one for sure is Venus (the brightest in our sky) and another one on the opposite side of the sky with a little
red twinkling dot right below it. The moon has been near this unknown one for a long time.
It is definitely not Venus, any idiot could pick it out of the sky.
This is something completely different.
Granted it could just be a really bright star, but I doubt it. Its too bright and huge to be a star its gotta be a lot closer than that.
If you don't believe us, look outside tonight for yourselves at the moon. You will most likely see a huge light and a smaller red dot below it.
Don't let preconceived notions of reality hinder your perception!
This doesn't make any sense since the Moon rises an hour later every night and thus the Moon is set against a different background of celestial
bodies every night. The only way the Moon could be near this object for, as you say, "a long time" is of by some conincidence the object you're
talking about moves the exact same apparent direction and speed that the Moon moves. That would be some coincidence! By the way, I say "apparent"
direction and speed because I assume the object you're talking about is further away than our Moon. If this object next to the Moon (and I don't
mean as we observe it from Earth, but actually right next to it), then I think someone besides you would have noticed it by now -- there are a lot of
amatuer astronomers who would jump all over this. That's the only way an object can move with the Moon -- if it's locked into Earth's orbit with
the Moon. So...if it is actually a little further away (say the distance to Mars), then, as I said, it would be quite the "astronomical"
coincidence that its apparent motion is exactly that of the Moon's...not to mention it would need to be moving at incredible speeds to be seemingly
moving with the Moon "for a long time".
As viewed from the Northern Hemispere, last night (June 26) the Moon was west of the constellation Scorpius, which includes the very bright and
reddish star "Antares"...maybe If you were looking last night, that's what you saw. But, as I said, the moon is in a different part of the
ecliptic every night. A few nights ago, the Moon was nowhere nere Antares. Tonight the Moon will be right on top of Antares (that's cool!).
Tomorrow night the Moon will be east of Antares, heading toward Jupiter and Sagittariius. Friday night the Moon will be right next to Jupiter in our
sky.
Interstingly enough, the Moon is now passing by the asteroid "Vesta" (as viewed from Earth) which is presently the brightest asteroid in the night
sky. But I doubt you saw that. For one thing, Vesta isn't red. And secondly, even though Vesta is bright for an asteroid (mag. 5.5), it is still
only as bright as the dimmest stars. You would need at least binoculars to see it -- or good eyes on a very dark night. Unfortunately the Moon is
too close to Vesta in our night sky to see it -- The Moon's brightness is drowning out the asteroid. If you wait a few days, the Moon will have
passed and Vesta will again be visible.
Edit: Spelling and grammer
[edit on 27-6-2007 by Soylent Green Is People]
. The universe isn't always as it seems. We are really closer to the truth than NASA or anyone else would like us to be. 
.
