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Originally posted by adjay
I should have posted this sooner, but I've been a bit busy lately. I saw a strange sight in the sky last Sunday morning, 16th September at about 4am near Portsmouth, England.
I had been out with my gf for her birthday round a friends house, and when it got to about 4 we got a taxi back home. The taxi driver was chatting away with my gf as I'm scanning the skies, and I caught a flash out of the corner of my eye. My gf saw this too and instantly nudged me to show me what I was already looking at - an extremely bright object completely outshining everything else in the pretty much clear night sky.
As the taxi was moving, we both commented that the object in question appeared to be moving. At one point in the journey, the road we were travelling down was dead straight for quite a distance, and this "light" seemed to move alongside us, but faster? I know how things can seem when you are moving in a car however, but it did seem to "catch up" with us (in a parallel fashion, this object did not seem close!)
Also as we travelled, it appeared to flicker in and out.. It didn't seem like clouds or tree's blocking the view.. It also had a strange appearance like it was cut in half horizontally, but it's over bright look almost masked this.
When the taxi arrived at our destination, we paid and both got out. This light was apparantly a thumb length or so over the top of my house, and we both stood in awe looking at it for a good few minutes, til I remembered my gf had her phone with her. We took two pretty short clips (one normal, one night vision) and headed inside.
I got a better look at it from inside my house, out the back, where there are no street lights. Not that it mattered much - it was so bright that it outshone anything I or my gf have ever seen in the night sky before by a large amount. It was kind of close to the Big Dipper in the sky, if you take the last two stars that make up the "ramp" to the Big Dipper, and draw a line vertically down from the right most star, it was about 4 lengths out from here.
I checked Google Sky for any possibilities, the only thing I could find was that it may have been Saturn. I expected to find a bunch of references to a bright Saturn on this date (I have seen some bright ones before) but turned nothing up. It really was the brightest thing I have ever seen in the sky, yet it appears nobody else saw its magnificence! (I have checked many places for threads!)
Can anybody confirm an extremely bright Saturn for this date, viewed from the UK? Would an extremely bright Saturn appear to have two "halves", so very slightly? It was like as you looked at it, it showed a horizontal split flickering in and out.. I still can't believe what I saw that night, I'm glad I was with my gf tho cos if I saw it on my own I probably wouldn't have said anything to anyone!
EDIT: Just saw another thread posted with a similar sighting, this was definitely as East as you could get (my house faces dead West, it was over my house as I looked at my house from the front)
If it was Saturn/Venus (I guess Saturn for the "split), why is it so bright?
[edit on 22-9-2007 by adjay]
Originally posted by adjay
Chorlton: I checked that thread, and it was very different to that picture.
Timelike: Thanks for that information (and everyone else :up. Two things come to mind still regarding this:
1. If this was Venus (which I think it was), and it was 12% illuminated.. My god! If I ever saw it at 100% illumination I would think it would blind me! It didn't appear like a crescent either, if I could liken it to anything it looked like a small baby Ike's head from South Park.. But the two halves were the most blindingly brilliant white.. And occasionally would appear to almost join for a brief moment, before seeming seperated again. Any idea's as to why? (Nothing in our atmosphere was causing this for certain)
2. What is the astronomical/scientific reason for the brightness of Venus like this? Am I right in thinking it's what DezertSkies posted, the 40 year cycle of Venus would reflect the Sun more to Earth at a peak?
I just thought a possible reason for the appearance of "two halves" - is this what the "crescent" appearance would take to the naked eye? I can imagine the saturated light from the two ends of the crescent may create the illusion of being in two halves.
Originally posted by adjay
reply to post by timelike
Thanks again timelike!
Would you agree the reason for it appearing to show itself in two halves is due to it being so bright, and its phase making it appear like a crescent? I wish my gf kept things like mobile phone cables.. I'd put the video here (it's crap on her phone but her phone has a better camera than lcd display!).. It was mainly this "two halves" appearance that was throwing me, making it much more enigmatic and magnificent! And also making me initially think of Saturn!
I thank you for educating me on many things, I'm happy to learn 1 new thing a day but I've got a few week's worth in this thread alone.