Weird star again...

Ok i see the star again...

oddly enough though, stellarium says its Venus.

But this star looks identical to the star i saw yesterday.

I mean i really dont know what to say here.

Is there some orbital path that stellarium didnt take note of? Did the earth tilt last night?

I will try and get a picture just so you guys can see.

This thing is BRIGHT. It looks like a glimmering sun. Staring at it hurts my eyes like the sun would.

I wish i had a telescope....

reply to post by demonseed

I just went outside to check again but now it has clouded over and you can't see any stars. I'll check again tomorrow. I'm glad you started this thread demonseed, I was going to start one last night but decided against it, figureing I'd get a lot of it's venus or "go figure it out yourself" but it seems sometimes people on here are helpful. I just find it strange because it's so bright and it looks low in the sky. Goodnight I'll check back tomorrow.

double post

[edit on 13-6-2010 by demonseed]

reply to post by demonseed


Same here Demonseed, I posted about it not long ago, it was explained away as either Venus or the elusive Arturus, it cannot be either. It appears nightly in the same place it has been since the end of April. We see this star when looking south southeast. It is getting brighter each night.

edit to add: I have noted that while the moon and constellations change position each night this star does not change position. It is in the same place every night, I have a phone pole on the side of the house that I walk to and look at the star, so I am standing in the same place every night, and it lines up perfectly with the top of the tree next door. Same place.

[edit on 13-6-2010 by space cadet]

reply to post by space cadet


That's what i thought too space cadet. I go out on my back deck every night and look to the same spot and there it is. Does Venus move significantly in a few hours? And would it be in the same spot every night? And your right when you say it is getting brighter, at least I think it is.

I've been watching the same patch of night sky from my back porch for about 3 years now. This year I've noticed the star in the north west sky (didn't know it was Venus, but that's what I keep reading) has gotten bigger and brighter. The last few weeks I see a prefect round red dot almost touching the top of the star (could be an optical illusion because no one else has mentioned it). Last night, June 12, 2010, was the most brilliant. I could swear it was 2 stars, one on top of the other. Did anyone else see this? I am on the west coast, Los Angeles County.

reply to post by starztonight


Wow, I see the red too, I didn't mention it because my hubby said he doesn't see it, but it is clearly red at the top. I can't say that to me it looks like another star on top of it, but I do see the red hue above it.

Im in the UK and I can see a very bright object too at sunset

it appears just above the sunset (so its not even properly dark yet) and its the only thing you can see in the sky

if i see it again i will get a pic, it has been there for ages

but i think it is venus

Well im still not entirely sure what it could be. "Evidence" points to venus but there are some questions.

Venus actually spins retrograde to the sun, so you could technically explain it away as an optical illusion(the fact that it looks like its not moving).

The odd part is the color. It almost looks like its creating its own sunlight. Like you guys mentioned a red hue, well to me it looks like a white sun.

en.wikipedia.org...

could be a possibility?
"The visible radiation emitted by white dwarfs varies over a wide color range, from the blue-white color of an O-type main sequence star to the red of a M-type red dwarf."

Im basically at 2 theories now...

Either

1) Something is up with the sky/megnetosphere causing stars to appear brighter in certain spots(IE the center point of the magnetosphere). Maybe there are parts of the sphere that are being bent causing more of space light to shine through..

or...

2) There is a white dwarf out there getting closer and closer.... A white dwarf is roughly the same size as a planet(aka earth/venus) but has roughly the same mass as the sun. It illuminates light just like the sun. To me that star looks alot like a white dwarf....

Maybe yesterday it blocked out venus from sight, but the night before(when venus wasnt at that location), it was the white dwarf in question.

Scientists have always hinted that our solar system could be binary...(aka two stars rotating around each other).

"Venus" was a beautiful show this evening along with the crescent moon. And again, I saw a red dot at the top, not a red huge, but a red dot not quite touching the top of the star. This star is the reason for my joining ATS. I found this thread from an internet search. The posts have more opened minded responses than most of the others. Venus it may be, but why is it so close and so darned bright this year? I wonder if that's why we are having so many quakes here in Southern California. We just had a 5.9 rolling quake at 9:29 pm.

I'm in Phoenix AZ and Venus is not presently visible, 11:14pm my time. The two brightest objects currently out are Vega and Arcturus. Nothing in the sky seems to be out of the ordinary at this moment in time.

I'm in New England and the brightest thing I see in the night sky is Jupiter, which doesn't rise till after 2a.m.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by IamMe14


Did you happen to see 6 shooting stars to the east last night? between 11-3

Originally posted by demonseed
Venus actually spins retrograde to the sun, so you could technically explain it away as an optical illusion(the fact that it looks like its not moving).

Venus actually spins on its axis in the opposite direction to the earth as if it's been tipped upside down at some stage but the orbital direction is the still the same as all the other planets. When Venus is closest to earth (on the same side of the sun) it's only 0.3AU from earth while it's still quite close at its furthest point from us at 1.6AU and at that point it benefits in terms of visibility because of the highly reflective atmosphere and that's when it exhibits the apparent 'retrograde' motion you speak of in relation to other objects in the sky.

A few figures for Venus:
Solar distance 0.7AU (Earth 1AU)
Orbit time 0.6 earth years (Earth 1year)
Orbit speed 35km/s (Earth 30km/s)

I was admiring it after sunset today when it was below & to the right of the crescent moon. It's not called the morning/evening star for no good reason

The best time to see Venus is now
Venus and slender sliver of moon will make for a pleasing tableau Monday
By Joe Rao
Space.com
updated 3:23 p.m. ET, Fri., June 11, 2010

Venus appears so dazzling that it's now capturing the gaze of countless millions soon after sunset, and this week for those situated north of the equator it will appear to stand higher in the western twilight sky than at any other time this year.

Weather permitting, this brilliant lantern-like planet will shine more than 25 degrees high at sunset and still about 15 degrees above the horizon as the last bit of twilight glow fades. For comparison, your fist held at arm's length covers roughly 10 degrees of the night sky.

It's all downhill from here
What is unusual is that while Venus is now at the pinnacle of its evening visibility, its greatest elongation (angular separation) from the sun is still more than two months away, in late August.

The reason for this paradox can be traced to the difference in declination between Venus and the sun Declination is a coordinate on the celestial sphere, and is analogous to latitude on the Earth's surface. The declination of an object is how many degrees it is north or south of the celestial equator.

Right now, Venus and the sun are positioned about 23 degrees to the north of the celestial equator, which is about as far to the north as either object can appear. But in the coming days and weeks, Venus will appear to slide rapidly toward the south, causing it to appear to steadily lose altitude in the sunset sky.

When it reaches its greatest elongation from the sun on Aug. 20 it will be nearly 20 degrees south of it in declination. So it will be noticeably lower in the sky at sunset, as well as appearing to set more toward the south of due west.

And since both the sun and Venus will continue to head south through the balance of summer and on into the fall, Venus will become increasingly more difficult to see.

By October, it rapidly sinks out of sight; from mid-northern latitudes we'll have to struggle to catch it very low in the west-southwest soon after sunset during the opening days of the month. Venus will become hopelessly lost in the glare of the sun shortly thereafter, as it falls past it – inferior conjunction — on Oct. 29.

But at least for now, evening viewers are seeing Venus at its very best for 2010.

Some striking conjunctions
Skywatchers using their unaided eyes and binoculars will see some dramatic Venus conjunctions (when the planet appears near another object) during the next couple of weeks.

In the dusk of Friday evening, June 11 for instance, Venus strikes an interesting pose with the "twin" stars, Pollux and Castor in the constellation Gemini, forming a nearly straight and horizontal line in the sky.

But that's not all. A lovely crescent moon, just 2 1/2 days past new phase, comes onto the western stage on June 14. [Stunning full moon photo.]

While they won't appear exceptionally close, Venus and that slender sliver of the moon will still make for a pleasing tableau in that Monday evening's west-northwest sky, Venus appearing to ride well above and slightly to the right of the moon.

Then Venus continues on a beeline toward the Beehive star cluster (M44) in faint Cancer, the Crab, arriving there during the evenings of June 19 and 20.

Wait until about an hour after sunset and use binoculars or a wide-field telescope to detect the cluster as a faint sprinkling of stars just to the lower left of Venus.

On June 18 Venus will be just 1/2 a degree northeast of 5th magnitude star Eta Cancri. It will be at the northwest edge of the Beehive the next evening, and at the northeast edge of the cluster the night after that.

Normally, the Beehive is visible to the naked eye as a hazy spot of light, but right around these nights the close proximity of Venus will likely overwhelm any chance of spotting the cluster without optical aid.

You should be able to detect the small, dazzling, yellow-white gibbous phase of Venus in your telescope if the atmosphere is calm and you observe as early in twilight as possible, before Venus has sunk too near the horizon.

And on June 23 Venus will stand about midway between the stars Pollux and Regulus.

Venus at midnight?
Not a few astronomy texts and stargazing guides will tell you not to bother looking for Venus at midnight, since it always sets within a few hours of sundown and is usually long gone from the sky by the middle of the night.

However, this week, since we are getting near to the time of the summer solstice, the sun appears to be setting practically as late as it can set. In addition, most parts of the United States and Canada are now on daylight saving time. ]

As a consequence, even though it's setting only about 2 1/2 hours after sunset, Venus is setting rather late for most places: generally within several minutes of 11 p.m. local daylight time. However, if you live near the western boundary of your local time zone or at a latitude north of 45 degrees, Venus will be setting close to, or even after the stroke of midnight.

From Indianapolis, Indiana, for instance, Venus will set at 11:47 p.m. ET. From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Venus will set at 12:09 a.m. CT.

And for Houghton, Mich., Venus doesn't set until 12:22 a.m. ET, while those who live in Edmonton, Alberta can enjoy their view of Venus until well past 12 midnight — 12:33 a.m. MDT to be exact!
© 2010 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

URL: www.msnbc.msn.com...

Originally posted by starztonight
I've been watching the same patch of night sky from my back porch for about 3 years now. This year I've noticed the star in the north west sky (didn't know it was Venus, but that's what I keep reading) has gotten bigger and brighter. The last few weeks I see a prefect round red dot almost touching the top of the star (could be an optical illusion because no one else has mentioned it). Last night, June 12, 2010, was the most brilliant. I could swear it was 2 stars, one on top of the other. Did anyone else see this? I am on the west coast, Los Angeles County.

You are not the first person to mention a possible red dot near to this object. I was also beginning to wonder if it was just an optical illusion.

www.abovetopsecret.com...
The fifth paragraph mentions the red dot. It seemed to be to the right of the object 'Venus'.

[edit on 15-6-2010 by sightings]

[edit on 15-6-2010 by sightings]

havent you all figured it out yet? get with the program and i'm not being sarcastic they pose as stars or planets in the night sky so you dont notice them if you were going to hide in front of someones face where else but act like a part of the night sky!

Originally posted by metalholic
havent you all figured it out yet? get with the program and i'm not being sarcastic they pose as stars or planets in the night sky so you dont notice them if you were going to hide in front of someones face where else but act like a part of the night sky!

i love APC(in your sig) , but please tell more...

you saying UFOs are disguising themselves as stars in the night sky?

reply to post by demonseed


i'm saying start paying attention to the sky just before complete darkness sometimes the sun maybe still kinda high and sometimes in the west with the sun setting you'll see stars come out that are to early to be stars planets or anything else sometimes you'll see things move oddly sometimes you'll without hard study you'll find them...all it takes is paying attention to your sky and if you live in the city find the best places to view the sky city lights block out alot of the sky!

Replying to demonseed. I saw what appeared to be a star moving across the night sky in February 2009. I searched the internet the next day and read a comet had passed by. But, I really didn't believe that because news broadcasts usually mention when and where to view them (in advance). I didn't hear any advance warning of a comet being visable. Now that I have found this website, I will start documenting times and dates. I am just a stargazer for now but plan to learn more.