Red Green and Amber flashing lights in the sky, page 5

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reply posted on 16-10-2008 @ 05:20 PM by Boognish

reply to post by leeza

I guess I should have also asked you the location of the the star on the horizon also; meaning is it high or low in the sky? Using Stellarium (download it it's free, it's great, and you'll never have to wonder again what that strange flashing star you see is) here is an image of the western sky in FLA around 8:30PM. Once you see the pic, click on it to enlarge it.
Florida Sky

Assuming you have an unobstructed view....I would start by finding Jupiter. It will be just south of southwest, roughly in the middle of the sky, and very bright. Jupiter will be the brightest "star" you see looking in that direction. From Jupiter, find the stars Vega, Antares, and Arcturus. Depending on your exact time and location in Florida you may even be able to see Venus. Venus would be extremely bright but would be really low, and close to the horizon.

Anyway...I would imagine your flashing star is one of these objects. Using the map, I think you will be able to figure out which one... Let us know what it is.

reply posted on 16-10-2008 @ 07:13 PM by leeza

reply to post by Boognish

That program is very cool, Thank you.
I downloaded it, it will take me awhile to get used to it.
I set the time date and location.

I think what I saw was Jupiter, but once I get used to that program
I should know for sure. I see it again tonight its really, really bright,
bigger then the rest of the stars, and looks spikey.

reply posted on 18-10-2008 @ 04:58 AM by Anonymous ATS

reply posted on 18-10-2008 @ 05:14 PM by Boognish

reply to post by leeza

You're welcome, I'm happy I could help. I stumbled across Stellarium several months ago after I kept noticing the same color changing/flashing star in the sky. It really bugged me not knowing what it was; I had to find out (it turned out to be Antares). I'm glad to see a lot of people here at ATS recommending it. It is a great skywatching tool.

reply posted on 18-10-2008 @ 10:00 PM by TheOneEyedProphet

I've also been seeing the twinkling light in the sky, just yesterday i had my last sighting.
I'm in the US, the thing is, I don't consider myself an astronomical expert, but I have had the luck of owning some telescopes in my life, stargazing is one of my favorite activities.
Last night the sky was covered in clouds, a clearing broke in the southeast portion of the sky, and thats were i saw it.

I'm sure I haven't seen anything like it before around 2:30 am, it was the only visible object in the sky, no other stars were seen, only that object.
I like to use Stellarium, and Sirius also came to mind, but it disappeared after a while, it didn't move a bit while I watched, and I had some great reference points...

Anyway, here is last nights sky in Stellarium, maybe it can shed some light on the subject, maybe what some are seeing are just stars, Rigel, Betelgeuse, and Sirius can sometimes deceive us.
I'm positive it wasn't Sirius...

reply posted on 8-11-2008 @ 12:16 AM by Anonymous ATS

The star that everyone is referring too is Sirius... I live in bloomington, IN (39°10'N 86°31'W) and at 1 am it is in the southeast sky at 129°45' 17°7'. It has an apparent magnitude of -1.47, making it the brightest star in the night sky. It is actually twice as bright as the second brightest star in the sky, Canopus. It is found in the constellation Canis Major which takes the shape of a dog. Really, Sirius is a binary star system, meaning there are two stars (Sirius A and Sirius B) which orbit each other. It also seems so bright because it is fairly close to us, only 8.6 light years. Sirius A, the larger of the two, is more than twice the size of our sun and 25 times brighter. Lastly, Sirius B used to be the larger of the two and actually became a red giant before collapsing into a white dwarf

reply posted on 17-11-2008 @ 12:35 PM by coney

The blinking stars are not planets. Jupiter and Venus are steady white lights, they're not the ones this person is talking about.

Stars didn't used to do this.

For me, there's one that quickly changes color (red, green, white, blue) directly N NE. Low on the horizon, about 1-2 hand lengths up, arm extended. From NYC, it's straight up "over" Rhode Island, around early evening. I can't see if from my window at home, so I'm not sure where it is later in the night. But around 7 pm, it's just where I described.

THere are many many stars that are doing this. It's not the atmosphere either. If it was the atmosphere, the planets would be blinking as well, because we'd be seeing through our atmosphere at all the stars and planets.

It's really odd. Someone's gotta have good telescope that can take a succession of pictures of these things. I've seen blurry videos of these on YouTube, but that's the best I've seen.

reply posted on 17-11-2008 @ 05:03 PM by Boognish

reply to post by coney

Coney, do you think you might be talking about the star Capella? It should be about exactly where (and when) you describe. Capella is very bright (6th brightest star in the sky).

From Capella if you look a little lower and a little to the east you should also be able to see Aldebaran. Aldebaran is easy to find because it puts off an orange color. Pretty much directly above Aldebaran is the star cluster Pleiades (It's highlighted in the box in the picture). I call it the "tiny dipper" because well, that's what it looks like to me. A tiny version of the big dipper.

I strongly suspect you were probably referring to Capella in your post. Just thought I'd throw a couple of other things out there to look for in the same general area.

NYC Sky 7PM 11/17/2008

reply posted on 18-11-2008 @ 10:09 AM by coney

It's not just bright, it flashes colors like crazy. I never remember stars doing this until about 5 years ago. There are many in the sky that are "disco stars", but the one "over Rhode Island" is an all out dance maniac star.

reply posted on 19-11-2008 @ 03:50 PM by Boognish

reply to post by coney

Coney, I was out checking out some stars last night...And after comparing Capella and Aldebaran, I think I may have told you the wrong thing. Capella doesn't really twinkle or flash very much. But Aldebaran sure does. So follow the link in my previous post and see if you can locate Aldebaran, and let us know if this is what you are seeing...Or if it's something else.

reply posted on 12-12-2008 @ 01:16 AM by The Lizard King

I see those things every time I go out at night. They move with the stars, Ive never seen one change course. If I had a decent camera I could take a picture of one right now.

Ive looked at those things through my telescope and they look the same when I dont use the telescope. I think they are just stars, its either that or the aliens try to disguise themselves amongst the stars, controlling your every brain wave. Scary.

reply posted on 8-1-2009 @ 02:51 AM by Anonymous ATS

reply to post by Acidtastic

hi there im in scotland dundee and i take the dog out every night and when its a clear night i see moven and flashing star look alikes but no its something strange coz stars dont move like that and there is alot more than 1 i thought at first i was seein things so i started walkin again then stopped looked and it was still there and a bit futher up the sky was a moving object or something if the sky is clear tonight i will be looking out 4 them again 2 see what happens then i will get back to u pzl let me no if u see anymore

reply posted on 8-1-2009 @ 03:50 AM by Winsor

I see this a lot but have never given much thought to it assuming it was a star because i never saw it move. But now that I think about it all the times I have seen this it has never been in the same place twice or it is missing later in the night when its just as cloudless as the first time I saw it.