Can someone please go look at Sirius for me??

reply to post by AnonyJai
....yes , Sirius is as bright as Jupiter , which is bright these days , too
and those two corner stars ...Beetle and the opposite corner....kitty corner.....are an awesome color.

Originally posted by AzureSky
Considering it could possibly be the second star in our binary.

No, it couldn't. Sirius has a proper motion of 1.2 arcseconds/year in declination and .546 arcseconds per year in right ascension (15 km/sec and 6.8 km/sec velocity relative to our solar system respectively). Since we're about 8.6 light years from the Sirius system, and since Sirius A and B have a combined mass of nearly 3 times the sun's mass, the escape velocity from the Sirius system at the distance of our sun is about 0.1 km/sec. In other words, our solar system is traveling many times too fast relative to Sirius to be able to orbit it or be in a binary system with it.

reply to post by MalusLupus


Your right it is red, great link. Bookmarked!

Thanks

reply to post by greeneyedleo


Thanks so much! I'm stacking up quite a pile of reading material here. haha - And no I didn't think you sounded rude at all but thanks for clarifying anyway.

Here's my latest image of Sirius, completely over-exposed to the point that internal reflections in the telescope become obvious:
i319.photobucket.com...

reply to post by ngchunter


Beautiful, thank you!

Originally posted by AzureSky
Sirius has been getting brighter,
It would,
Considering it could possibly be the second star in our binary.

Highly interesting theory.

, Quite possibly the golden age of legend.

Why would it be the second star in our binary as there are at least 5 stars CLOSER than it!

Just wanted to reinforce GreenEyedLeo's post: Stellarium.

I use it several times a week (including, "I wonder what satellite I watched passing south at seven o'clock last night?"). I live near downtown in a fair sized city, so my telescope is in storage (Dear God, please get me out of this city!) and Stellarium keeps me mindful of what I am missing-- sort of a like self-induced torture.

So, to recap--

Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. And seemed tome to be unusually bright lately-- p[probably because of the better and clearer air of late.

Jupiter has been brilliant for months-- Venus showing off as well. Mars come up just before the moon tonight.

In Orion, Betelgeuse is the reddish one, and Rigel is catty-cornered (how we say it in Texas) across Orion's Belt from Betelgeuse.

You know about the Great Orion Nebula, right? Look near the middle "star" (it is really a bunch of them) of Orion's scabbard hanging from his belt. Decent scopes and even astronomical binoculars may produce a satisfying "Wow!"

Lastly, when describing the sky, terms like "Southwest" instead of "lower left" (and such) will negate confusion introduced by variances of local time, orientation and longitude of other observers.

reply to post by AnonyJai


appologies about that, someone pulled the knob off the dimmer switch - it should be fixed soon

R U Sirius

Originally posted by Starwise
reply to post by AnonyJai

 

No, not abnormally.Its usually the brightest star(s) in the night sky compared to Jupiter or Venus. Oh and I just got the book Sirius Mystery by Robert Temple, so far very awesome

edit on 12-1-2012 by Starwise because: (no reason given)

Yes that is a very interesting book you mention
Happy reading

The hazy bit mid way down from the belt stars is A Stellar Nursery where many many stars are in the process of being born - Very awe inspiring

Originally posted by wmd_2008

Originally posted by AzureSky
Sirius has been getting brighter,
It would,
Considering it could possibly be the second star in our binary.

Highly interesting theory.

, Quite possibly the golden age of legend.

Why would it be the second star in our binary as there are at least 5 stars CLOSER than it!

It is speculated the Sirius and our Sun were once part of the same nebulas clump of material

reply to post by AnonyJai


I'm really glad I stumbled upon this post. I too noticed this unusual brightness as did my father. I had taken my telescope out to try to see Mars, and when I went to the other side of my porch WOW. I am good with astronomy and I definitely know Sirius and have seen it before, but that night it was just AMAZINGLY bright. It was actually so bright that I ran inside and told everyone to come out and look because I thought it might be something other than what it was. The only way I can describe it is that it looked to me like it had got unusually close to Earth because it also looked bigger. It was literally like someone was shining a spotlight from just outside the atmosphere... it was crazy. Thanks for posting this thread, I look forward to reading the replies.