Star is getting brighter, bigger

reply to post by Levski


Hopefully that was sarcasm, and you know that planets do not shine on their own, they only reflect sunlight, so global warming would have no effect on how bright they appear.

Originally posted by bamaoutlaw
well after downloading the stellarium program i believe its Ganymede the moon of Jupiter which appears to me anyway much brighter than the planet jupiter. that program is pretty cool, at first glance it appears to be jupiter, but once you zoom in its clear the moon is brighter than the planet. now the question is has this always been the case or is something changing?

That's just because of how the program renders planet images. Your monitor is incapable of accurately reproducing the brightness difference between ganymede and jupiter without making jupiter a pure white ball with no visible detail, so the program designers decided to forgo accurate representations of relative brightness when you zoom in on planets. The actual magnitude of ganymede is about 4.6 and for jupiter it is currently -2.7. That means that Jupiter is actually about 610 times as bright as Ganymede.

i agree w/ u guys.. i now believe it is jupiter and its moons...


one ? though... how long has jupiter been in view from earth. and how long does it normally stay in view. i have watched this bright thing in the sky for a little more than 4 months now.

reply to post by tjetbone


me 2...im starting to believe that's heading towards near here...maybe a new solar system? or maybe Jupiter flaming up like a sun?

Eight pages? EIGHT PAGES?!?!


Do you really think that we would be able to see something with the naked eye, in a heavily light polluted area such as NYC as that, BEFORE Nasa or some other amateur astronomer or heck just a regular joe with a telescope??! Where did the reptilians threads go. At least those were fun to read.


/thread

reply to post by aleon1018


"I think someone had mentioned about a new star being born, but I don't know how long it would take for us to see it here depending on it's distance."

If they know and are talking about it, then the light from it is already here. There's no other way they would be able to do so.

reply to post by MacSen191


I'm a bit confused now.

When you say "it never seems to move", do you mean that in relation to the moon, or does it just not move in the sky like all the other stars do? Polaris (The North Star) is the only star I know of that doesn't (seem to at least.) move. It does move. Polaris is the North Star right now, but that's not always the case.

reply to post by Americantrucker


it does move...... it has a very eliptical movement throughout the night.

it seems to rise from the southeast and set in a more southern direction.
i can see it over the horizon at about 9:30pmCT and it sets at around 5-6am... when the moon was in the southern sky about 3 1/2 months ago it seemed to follow the moon through the sky or vice versa. the object always rises and sets in the same areas. i live and watch it from pratville AL zip 36066.. that might give u more of an idea of the directions i said it rises and sets in.

[edit on 30-6-2008 by tjetbone]

reply to post by FrankP


well then dont read it lol.

Looking over this thread today, I realized how much misinformation there is on the subject. It's sad but at the same time it surely is entertaining.

reply to post by LovelyDoom


While this is true, it might be worth noting that venus, the brightest object in the night sky other than the moon, is the victim of runaway global warming. So, although a planet's temperature won't directly affect it's magnitude, the cloud cover that causes venus to be so hot will reflect more sunlight.

Keep watching the skies people! There are only a minority of the population that actually look up.... makes you wonder whats really happening in our skies.

The light we are seeing IS JUPITER and I'm quite satisfied with that answer.

At least on this post we've managed to come to a sensible conclusion unlike most posts on this website, even if it did take 8 pages.

I thought there would be more amateur astronomers on ATS. I admit, I only know a few constellations and such, but my first reaction to seeing the bright star (it's right in front of my bedroom window along with the moon) was that it was Venus, which I know can be especially bright.

For the first thing that comes to some people's minds to be "Nibiru" is hilarious!

It's beautiful any way, reading that it's Jupiter makes it even more special since it's further away than Venus - there's more wonder to be had in our natural celestial surroundings than any made up conspiracy stories.

I am pretty sure that looking off my porch I am looking south, and that star is huge tonight! Not flickering, just extremely bright.

reply to post by space cadet

It doesn't appear to "flicker" precisely because it's a planet, and therefore not a point light source like a star.

I saw this last night, very big and bright compared to all the other stars in the sky here in London, it doesn't flicker, so it is not a star, it must be a planet, I would like to know which one thou? Jupiter or venus?

Mars I've seen before, but mars was a bit smaller looking.

reply to post by _Phoenix_




Phoenix the light your seeing is Jupiter and not Venus. Venus is following the sun closely at the moment and as such you wont be able to see it during night time. Hope this helps, if not check out Stellarium to see for yourself.

That's just because of how the program renders planet images. Your monitor is incapable of accurately reproducing the brightness difference between ganymede and jupiter without making jupiter a pure white ball with no visible detail, so the program designers decided to forgo accurate representations of relative brightness when you zoom in on planets. The actual magnitude of ganymede is about 4.6 and for jupiter it is currently -2.7. That means that Jupiter is actually about 610 times as bright as Ganymede.

ok i feel stupid now i guess i should have read up on the program before thinking the moon was brighter than the planet but thats how it looked, so yea i say its jupiter, but i did not notice it until only a few months back, has it always been that bright and visible or was i just not paying attention?

Originally posted by bamaoutlaw

ok i feel stupid now i guess i should have read up on the program before thinking the moon was brighter than the planet but thats how it looked, so yea i say its jupiter, but i did not notice it until only a few months back, has it always been that bright and visible or was i just not paying attention?

It's constantly moving across the background of stars as we and it orbit the sun. About 6 months (very roughly speaking) ago it was too near the sun to be seen at all, and about 6 months from now it will fade again into the early evening twilight. As we get closer to opposition Jupiter will brighten, and as we pass opposition jupiter will slightly fade.

[edit on 1-7-2008 by ngchunter]

Im in Italy and have seen the object for the last 3 weeks also. I have had an interest in astronomy for years and can tell you it is definateley Jupiter. I have looked at it with my telescope and can see the 4 brightest moons. I have looked at jupiter before so can easily identify it.