Mysterious Star or Something in the sky over Pennsylvania (need help identifying)

Good Day/Night all, I don't normally post about anything astronomy because I don't a whole lot about the subject however, I do have a decent celestron that I use to just basically point and look at things in the night sky.
(My telescope is a Celestron C6 R-GT 150mm refractor telescope as I'm sure someone will want to know what Im using)
Anyways with all that being said, for the past few clear nights in Central Pennsylvania I have been looking at something in the eastern PA sky that appears as a cluster of red, yellow, green, and purple orb like looking things all attached to the same body. I was initially drawn to looking at it in August as I have never seen a star that "twinkled" like this one and at first I thought it may have been a high altitude plane or something like that until observing it without optics and concluded that it wasn't moving. It has been in the sky now for some time and I since I am truly poor at reading star maps I cannot seem to figure out what it is. I know it may be cliche to have a good telescope with no knowledge how to really use any of that but I got it as a gift so I'd like to use it more often. If anyone can help me figure this out it would be greatly appreciated. I have looked around online and in some astronomy magazines and I can't seem to find something that resembles what I have been seeing but thats not to say that perhaps I am also looking in the wrong areas. If anyone can help me out it would be appreciated. I am not exactly sure how to draw measurments and all that to give you all an idea of where to look so If anyone knows how to do that I will be more than happy to put all that together for you all. I have tried in the past to photograph it with my iphone and use the find me feature to draw and Idea of my Lat and Long in relation to the direction my camera was pointing but that didn't help much and I've also tried to use a soda bottle cap with a hole drilled in it attached to a sharpened mop handle to try and roughly track its movement but I havent really done anything that you guys would consider helpful probably. Thank you for your time and thanks in advance for any info you all provide me!

(I am not claiming this to be a UFO, Nibiru, or anything else my ignorance of the stars leads me to believe that it is something that I do not understand, but because I dont understand what it is I will not make a claim to saying it is anything other than that something in the sky I cannot explain entirely. Knowing the answer isn't as important as knowing how to find it !)

Have you looked at it in the telescope? is it big through the telescope? only tthing I see towards east coast is Jupiter. what time have you been seeing if? high in the sky, or low? do you think its in space, or in orbit? meaning, could it be west of someone east of you? ill try and help but direction may be off.



eta: so much goin on in pa this year. wats wit the attn?

reply to post by Myendica


Yes I've looked at it through my telescope multiple times I have noticed it in the sky around end day nautical twilight which has been new but as the season is changing it is understandable in the past however I would only be able to see it in complete darkness. It appears to the left of the moon I have held up a ruler (1ft) and roughly gaged it to be about 2-2 1/2 feet away (holding the ruler at the edge of the moon and roughly guessing where to start again and it will go to about that.

reply to post by Myendica


To answer your other questions: yes it appears very high in the sky and from what I have noticed its movement if any is very slow so whatever it is must be far away or because of the rotation of the earth or something. I used my bottle cap on the mop handle to see if how far it moved so Id stake it in the ground to where the only thing I can see through it is the "star" or whatever it is and check on it the next night at the same time at 2200 but as I am not experianced at this I dont know how reliable any of the info I have gained about this is.

ETA: my moon measurements were also taken at the same time with the ruler as well.

I'd be willing to bet you are watching jupiter. In the eastern sky right after sundown, then tracks across the sky as the night goes by? The 3 or 4 orbs you are observing are its 4 largest moons. If you watch closely, they will change their orbit over time. Sometimes you can actually watch one cross under another one.

Enjoy.

reply to post by Brotherman


In Pgh, Pa and can you reference where Jupiter (the current bright star in the sky) is in reference to what you seen. I made thread about simular sighting but the uncool here went at me to the point where I just excepted mabey they cannot see it. I have been told use the many star mapping equipments and that I am seeing things, but I sometimes am out at 2-3 am checking the skys out in my free time when most are sleep. So I say goodluck and dont let anyone distract you from what you may discover.

You are seeing Jupiter and several of its moons.

Isn't it pretty?

I wish I had a telescope...

reply to post by Khaaaaaan!!


You may be right IDK how do I get the correct information to give a direction or a place to have others look at it to confirm that or at least get the directions to correlate with a map or an online source. Not to be difficult or anything but I have looked at jupiter before and what i have been looking at doesnt look like a planet to me but then again I do not think that I have seen Jupiter with its moons exposed like you are describing either. As far as its movement like I was saying earlier it seems to be somewhat stationary but IDK if I have been trying to track its movements correctly either so I dont want to say what it is doing exactly.

reply to post by Brotherman

Providing the time that you are seeing it would be helpful.

Right now Sirius, the brightest star in sky, is rising the early morning hours.
Here's an example of the show it can put on when it is low in the sky.


Sorry, I see that you are seeing it high in the sky. That would make it Jupiter.

reply to post by Phage


I am not looking at the body in the sky in the AM around BMNT however I have been told that I'm probably looking at Sirius but when I had a friend of mine come over for a beer the one night (he's an astronomy student but not trying to say he is the most credible person in the world either for all I know he could be wrong) and we got on the topic because I asked him about it and he changed what he said and said it wasn't sirius and he wasnt sure what it is that we were looking at as I got out the Tele and shown it to him and he said he didnt know what it was either. I usually go out and look at the sky around 2130 and some nights I will stay out till later then 0100-0200 depending if it is a school night or not. I am going to check out your vid now and thanks for the input. If I can figure out a reliable way to get a location on it I would be happy to post it up so everyone can see what it is whether it is Jupiter or Sirius. One thing I do know about it is that its very awesome to look at and the colors are very distinct.
ETA: ok Just checked out your clip there as that is very cool it does not resemble what I have been seeing but then again that video might have been taken with equiptment that will allow you to see "closer" then mine will I do not notice any color changes they stay in there appropriate places and are distinctly different from each other.

reply to post by Brotherman

I didn't see the post in which you described seeing the object high in the sky. The scintillation effect is strongest close to the horizon.

I agree that you are most likely looking at Jupiter.

reply to post by Phage


Tonite I think I am going to try and find jupiter now then to see if it is the same thing or not I will try and get a photo of this through my telescope but I have tried in the past and have been wildly un successful.

reply to post by Ophiuchus 13


Im in the Lebanon area out in the sticks so to speak the night sky is very bright around here. I'm actually closer to the indiantown gap. I have seen alot of shooting stars around that time of night in the southern sky last week it was pretty awesome it was like 7 I witnessed in the arena of about 4 seconds with 3 of them almost sequential it was cool.

wow another thread on this...
that 3 in week.

mate its jupitor...but thats the first time in 40 yrs its been that close...remember that cause theyl use the same line next year