Calling All in the Southern Hemisphere. The Crazily Bright Star. What is it? PHOTOS

My guess is the Lovejoy comet. Check soho and JPL. Soho shows the object appears extremely bright. Jpl orbit diagram shows that it is only visible in the southern hemisphere. Thanks for the pics. Wish I could see it!

Its he big boy Jupiter.

Its really bright right now. I noticed it a few weeks ago and said "Dannnng!! what is that?" So I broke out the ole telescope and checked it out.

It was amazing!! You can actually see the storm bands around the planet and I could also see 3 of its moons!!

ETA: I have a plain Jane wal-mart telescope. I wish I had a badass tele though, so I could really check it out.

Okay, I just checked out google sky and Venus looks super small at the moment.

Maybe I will try and figure out the other program tomorrow.

I am only leaving work now. Don't think I'll set up the tripod tonight. Sorry

But, now some are saying it's Jupiter???



Cheers for now.

reply to post by Tripple_Helix


That star looks like a cupcake. It could possibly be a reflection of the camera. Who knows, it looks pretty cool though, maybe Venus has come closer to the Earth! It does look very bright and it glistens like crazy. Cool pic nonetheless!

Credit to OP for having pics. Good job OP

Originally posted by Tripple_Helix
reply to post by NuclearPaul

 

...
I still find it very strange how this Planet, Venus, has been continuously becoming brighter over the last two years. It's amazing, and I wish I knew why.
...

What type of telescope did you use to measure the apparent brightness? Where is your documentation? Just saying you remember it being less bright is not evidence enough, especially when there are people out there scientifically measuring the brightness of this object.


Start here.
en.wikipedia.org...

EDIT - It probably is Jupiter that you are seeing, go here. en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Tripple_Helix


I dont know what that is, but I can tell you one thing. Thats no moon baby!


no but seriously, that looks way to big and bright to be a star. I think its either venus, or its the moon and your just trolling!

This is a helpful link to the skies in southern hem - www.rasnz.org.nz...

I think what you are seeing is Jupiter, near the moon, venus and mars are bright as well.

It appears to be Jupiter as others have said, and it is very bright, probably brighter around October when at a nearer point to Earth,

blog.seattlepi.com...

I did actually download Stellarium, but being at work- I didn't even have the time to figure out how to set my location or even close the program! (Now you can facepalm) I had to Ctrl Alt Del to open my task manager and end the program from there.

There are two task bars that are hidden. bottom left and the bottom. The exit button is the very last one on the right.
I saw a post or two mentioning satellites. First you would notice it moving and would not be there the next night.
Check out the ISS if it is in your area...very neat.
I use Simple satellite tracker. It is an easy program, just enter your zip code, maybe country also. It is at spaceweather.com

I had the same question as the OP a few weeks ago and used Google Sky Map for the android. It said it was Jupiter but I was unaware how bright it would get. No wonder our ancestors made them into gods.

So if you have a android phone, Google Sky Map is a good tool to find out what is above.

reply to post by Seagle


Yes Jupiter has been very show offy lately. Very big and very bright. Even people I work with who are not star gazers have noticed and mentioned the bright star near the moon.

Just want to add, if you have a windows phone you can download SkyView7 app. Not all that wonderful but it does work.

Are you sure it's not like the ISS or something. peace out

Originally posted by kobewan69
I know whatyou are talking about. I've been wondering the same thing while noticing this star being very bright this year. I used skyview on my iPhone to see what it is and indeed it showed up to be Jupiter. However what is weird is that untill this year I have never seen it so bright and big.

Also I'd like to ask you guys, don't you think that in the recent months the moon appears to be a whole lot bigger than usual? I know I might need glasses but to me recently the moon looks very big.

Maybe it's headed on a collision course with Earth.

I think it's weird too.

Are you people talking about the big yellow sphere in the center of the photos or the bright star at the lower right quarter of the pictures?

because if you are talking about the big yellow thing in the middle, it cannot be Jupiter, it is too big. Jupiter is a tiny dot in the sky, barely visible with naked eye.

reply to post by TomServo


This is comet Lovejoy.

Taken this morning:

i just recently this year returned home from living over in germany for 3 years, i too have pointed out that here in south carolina i see a star that is not familiar to me at all, i've lived here all my life and being away for only a few years isn't enough to make me forget what the night sky looks like. The star in particular rises around 10pm - 11pm in the east. Now I too thought it was sirius but this one isn't, it disappears across the horizon around 3am all the while in that time you can see it blinking kinda like what a satellite looks like but its much too bright to be a satellite. And it makes most stars look very dim. Maybe it is sirius but i don't remember sirius standing out this much ever.

This is Venus.

there has been allot of strange activities the last few months on and around this planet.

wait until you see something this big and bright moving in the sky then all of a sudden stop.

That will catch your eye!

Specially when it shoots off like a shooting star!!

reply to post by Tripple_Helix


It's either Venus or Mercury, they outshine everything in the sky when they're morning/evening "stars". Jupiter is brighter than all stars, but not that bright.