VIDEO!! Bright object hanging out with the Moon! What satellite is this please?

Ok so I was hanging out late one night waiting for a friend to get home. So there I am bored thought it was a nice looking night out and busted out my new tripod and canon video camera. Then low and behold there's something hanging out with the moon. An hour later I filmed him again setting over the horizon through the tree's. The Moon friend was still tagging along in its orbit.

Is this some satellite just chillen with the moon or what? ATS'ers help me out.


99.99 percent sure it's the star Subra after further looking into this. It's magnitude is apparently visible to the naked eye..3.50... I couldn't see it. But yea the Camera can so Case closed. Bummer I was amped.

[edit on 24-4-2010 by Your_Number_One_Fan]

Pretty cool;
I think that might be the International Space Station;
Im not sure tho;

It is moving with the moon tho....
So maybe it is a moon satellite

[edit on 24-4-2010 by DjSharperimage]

finally a video with good music!

I personally think its nothing out of the ordinary, I'm guessing satellite, star or Venus.

Perhaps it's just a bright star? Maybe the star Regulus?

A star will move with the Moon.

The Moon may appear move a bit more slowly that the rest of the stars appear to move (it rises about 1/2 hour later each night this time of the year), but I doubt that difference would be noticeable in one hours time -- therefore its apparent motion through the sky would be at about the same speed as the rest of the stars in the sky (i.e., after 1 hour, it should still be near the same stars it was near 1 hour earlier).

I suppose if you looked at the Moon over a longer period during the night, the distance it is from other stars during that time period would be more noticeable.



[edit on 4/24/2010 by Soylent Green Is People]

reply to post by DjSharperimage


Yea it is moving with the Moon Which was the coolest part. I looked last night with my camera and I couldn't spot it. That was at 12:00 am and cloudy. So tonight conditions permitting, I'll try to capture the Moon from the same spot in my back yard at roughly the same time of 3:30 a.m.

The moon is currently in Leo, here's a nice site that you can use to track anything you might see near the moon or other celestial bodies.
www.heavens-above.com...
Go to moon data for today, and you should get a rough position of stars near the moon during that time
The ISS would be a bit trickier to track, but you should be able to do it aswell.

[edit on 24-4-2010 by hippomchippo]

reply to post by Alaskan Man


Yea I'm just thinking its gonna be a sweet satellite that some country sent on a moon mission I need to find a good link of all missions going down around there, with data on positions and such would be super sweet.

Also though it must be a fairly decent size satellite to reflect such light, obviously my aperture and shutter being opens helped catch what my human eye couldn't.

The only planets in that direction of west seem to be Mars and Saturn.(Stellarium)

Good taste in music.

reply to post by hippomchippo

Nice link

That shows the data "today" (which is showing April 25th) Is there a way to show the stars from the 23rd?

The Moon rises about 1/2 hour later each night (this time of the year) relative to the rising of the rest of the stars, so I would think the stars near the Moon on the 23rd would have been slightly different than shown on your link.

As I said before, I'm pretty sure its just a star in the OP's video. There's no reason to say it isn't a star.

I doubt it was the ISS -- the ISS moves much more quickly than that across the sky. It usually moves from horizon to horizon in about 5 minutes.


[edit on 4/24/2010 by Soylent Green Is People]

Originally posted by Your_Number_One_Fan
reply to post by DjSharperimage

 

Yea it is moving with the Moon Which was the coolest part. I looked last night with my camera and I couldn't spot it. That was at 12:00 am and cloudy. So tonight conditions permitting, I'll try to capture the Moon from the same spot in my back yard at roughly the same time of 3:30 a.m.

...but a star would move with the Moon (for the most part), so why don't you think it was a star?

I don't understand why everyone is saying "satellite".

[edit on 4/24/2010 by Soylent Green Is People]

Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People
reply to post by hippomchippo

 

Nice link

That shows the data "today" (which is showing April 25th) Is there a way to show the stars from the 23rd?

The Moon rises about 1/2 hour later each night (this time of the year) relative to the rising of the rest of the stars, so I would think the stars near the Moon on the 23rd would have been slightly different than shown on your link.

As I said before, I'm pretty sure its just a star in the OP's video. There's no reason to say it isn't a star.


[edit on 4/24/2010 by Soylent Green Is People]

Indeed there is!
Just click the previous button once you get to moon data for today
The 23rd was actually the first day the moon appeared in Leo.

If you wanted to see the stars themselves on that date, I suggest using the total sky chart, then scaling back the time to the exact time the video was taken.

[edit on 24-4-2010 by hippomchippo]

reply to post by Your_Number_One_Fan


No way to tell until you also give us a rough location and time.

But with the current information, I'll hazard a guess it was Mars

Download Stellarium and input your location, etc and you can find out for yourself.



[edit on 24/4/10 by Chadwickus]

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


I thought about Regulus when I used Stellarium. Sure it's there and it's bright but it wasn't close enough for me to the Moon when looking from my location in Stellarium( Is it even that decent of an app?).

And I was fully zoomed in so having Regulus and the Moon close together in the frame is doubtful to me.; When They Don't even look that close together in Stellarium. I starred yea anyways because it came across my mind so yea possibly, maybe need to film Regulus I suppose tonight and see.

reply to post by Your_Number_One_Fan


Maybe it's this mystery bird that was just launched..that erm...nobody seems to know where it's going and errr...when it will be back!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Covert moon mission to view the bombing run results?

Originally posted by hippomchippo

...If you wanted to see the stars themselves on that date, I suggest using the total sky chart, then scaling back the time to the exact time the video was taken.

[edit on 24-4-2010 by hippomchippo]

Thanks.

I used astronomy.com"stardome" to do this. As I said before, the bright star "Regulus" would have been near the Moon on the night of the 23rd, but I could see another fainter star closer to the Moon on the stardome website that was not identified.

There were no planets near the Moon on that day, so it was most likely a star.

Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by Your_Number_One_Fan

 

No way to tell until you also give us a rough location and time.

But with the current location, I'll hazard a guess it was Mars

Download Stellarium and input your location, etc and you can find out for yourself.

[edit on 24/4/10 by Chadwickus]

Chad --

The OP's video said it was 3:30 AM on April 23rd -- but gave no location.

reply to post by Your_Number_One_Fan


Yeah -- as I said in my post right above this, I used "stardome" and there was another star shown closer to the moon than Regulus, but it was not identified. I don't know how bright that other star is.

reply to post by Chadwickus



Sorry I thought I put my location down on the youtube video.

Kimberley B.C., April 23 2010, ill brin the hour angle and azm alt in a bit.

Busy

Yea its a star, Subra it, has to be now. #te just a random coincidence I happened to get a new tripod and up that late at night and that star that close to the moon.


Well thanks for your time guys, someone can close this thread Case closed.
Bummer I was super pumped. Although I'm still gonna see if I can capture the Same star just to satisfy myself. I've filmed at night before and my camera has a hard time picking up the big dipper which is a bright, I fully open my app and shutter and only the brightest of stars show. Subra doesn't look bright enough but it's in the right position.

So case semi-closed for myself haha.

Thanks again