2011-21-12 Orion - strange wide semi circular formation below (Southern Hemisphere)

Guys, i need a reality check here... from my house in Porto Alegre Brazil I can see
"blinking stars" forming a big wide semi circular formation... are those possible
meteors / natural phenomena? The blinking is not one or two precise seconds apart,
like used from airplanes.. and the color seems to go orange to redish....

Could you guys please take a look at the sky? Its very easy to see, my neighbors
also saw with naked eye.

(crossing fingers!)

-Robert

Originally posted by RobertPaulsim
Guys, i need a reality check here... from my house in Porto Alegre Brazil I can see
"blinking stars" forming a big wide semi circular formation... are those possible
meteors / natural phenmena? The blinking is not one or two precise seconds apart,
like used from airplanes.. and the color seems to go orange to redish....

Could you guys please take a look at the sky? Its very easy to see, my neighbors
also saw with naked eye.

(crossing fingers!)

-Robert

film it or photograph it, just off hand I don't think stars do that ,but I'm not an astronomer

A film would most definitely help us help you. I don't think they blink either.

I just phoned my friend ... he has better equip.... he saw immediately... hope he can
film or take a good pic.

how to take night pic of the sky? long exposure?

reply to post by RobertPaulsim


Really need a good quality DSLR camera .

You need a very high ISO setting but this will slightly reduce the picture quality. You could go for a long exposure if you have a tripod and a cable remote shutter release. The best option is to use a combination of the two

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Can you see the semi circular formation? Hurry!

How many stars?
Procyon, Pollux and Castor (the twins), and Capella, all bright stars, form a wide semicircle below Orion. Since they are low on the horizon it would be expected that they would be twinkling quite a bit.

Look at this picture. It's the wrong date and location so ignore Mars and the compass directions, the relative positions of the stars is what counts. For you in Brazil, Gemini (Pollux and Castor) would be directly beneath Orion so rotate it clockwise a bit.



Make any sense?

reply to post by Phage


Phage,

Here is my estimate of location:



First I though I´ve mistaken Mars or Pollux.... but is not there. Its very straight from the middle star
of the three.... Look at the white bold circle...

reply to post by RobertPaulsim

As I said, Mars is not there now.

Your mark on the right almost aligns with Orion's belt so that could be Sirius. In that case your middle mark could be Procyon and the one on the left, Capella.

In any case, as time goes by you will be able to tell if they are stars or not.

Originally posted by RobertPaulsim
reply to post by PhoenixOD

 

Can you see the semi circular formation? Hurry!

ok ill do it

i took this with a canon dslr at 6400 iso on a ten second exposure. Its not all that great but ive never tried to take pics of stars before

90 degress angle from the middle star of the triplet (Alnilam) place the
top of your index finger there... you will see the second blinking object
at the full length of your finger... the others (I count 5 following in each
constellation of taurus, gemini, etc... ) you will spot easily the semi
circle once you see the gemini object.

Here is a better picture from phage´s star map:



Got it?

reply to post by PhoenixOD


could u see any object blinking? Could this be an atmosphere effect?

reply to post by RobertPaulsim


sry dude, ive just had clouds role in. Ill check again in a bit

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Thanks man... if anything, its a very beautiful sky, i hope is only stars...
IMHO alien visitation = BAD scenario. They cant teach us responsability
without replacing the current culture cold turkey.

-Robert

reply to post by RobertPaulsim


No probs, Im going to have to get some practice on how to show stars properly now

In hindsight i think i needed a lower ISO setting.

I was playing around with Stellarium and entered your cords, there seem to be several very bright stars/planets in that general area you pointed out, most prominently Jupiter...but also bright stars like Sirius etc...forming what one could see as big "semi circle". They are also quite low above the horizon..so they would definitely blink/sparkle. Possible that's what you see.

Originally posted by RobertPaulsimThey cant teach us responsability
without replacing the current culture cold turkey.

You say that like its a bad thing

reply to post by flexy123


I believe that you will find that from the OP's location Jupiter is not below Orion.
Things get turned around when you cross the equator.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by flexy123

 

I believe that you will find that from the OP's location Jupiter is not below Orion.
Things get turned around when you cross the equator.

edit on 12/21/2011 by Phage because: (no reason given)

Well, for us it would be "above" Orion, but for him "below", because i just checked. (And yes they are indeed tuned upside down). And Jupiter would be left where he pointed out just above the Horizon.