whats happening to sirius?

Just go outside and look, its flashing more bright than ever changing to every color at the same time, very unusual behavior taking place right now, now during this time of year Sirius can be called the rainbow star because of behavior very similar but this is the first time I've ever seen it get this intense I have an Orion XT 4.5 with a 40mm and 25mm eye lense, both show that it's only Sirius behaving like this and not the atmosphere causing it as other stars would be doing the same thing all around that area of the sky and that's not the case

Colour changes and twinkling is due to atmospheric conditions. Or maybe it's about to go supernova. Which is more likely?

I agree. Just checked.
But it is low on the horizon. Lot of people would say scintillation.
But recently it does seem to me that even stars at a 45 degree elevation seem to be doing a lot of blinking and twinkling.

reply to post by Logman


I watch the sky regularly, I've never seen Sirius act this way, my guess is one of stars orbiting it is passing by or like you said it could he the beginning of a supernova

Originally posted by fah0436
I agree. Just checked.
But it is low on the horizon. Lot of people would say scintillation.
But recently it does seem to me that even stars at a 45 degree elevation seem to be doing a lot of blinking and twinkling.

im in Summerville, South Carolina, its not low on the horizon anymore, I have a decent telescope and can confirm that the behavior is coming from the source and not the atmosphere

Because your telescope is not affected by atmospheric conditions at all right? And now Sirius has other stars orbitting it too.

Ever hear of the galactic superwave comming out from the galactic center?Not that im sayin its hit sirius, but could there be some other energy type happening to it?ie Is it entered into the same energy cloud earth and sol will shortly enter?(im not sure of the distances here....)otherwise supernova could be deadly to earthlings....

Originally posted by Logman
Because your telescope is not affected by atmospheric conditions at all right? And now Sirius has other stars orbitting it too.

yep it does, Sirius B .[ Sirius itself is A ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius

better not be a supernova
we wouldn't survive it.

reply to post by ZeroUnlmtd

Red controversy

Around 150 AD, the Greek astronomer of the Roman period Claudius Ptolemy described Sirius as reddish, along with five other stars, Betelgeuse, Antares, Aldebaran, Arcturus and Pollux, all of which are clearly of orange or red hue.[50] The discrepancy was first noted by amateur astronomer Thomas Barker, squire of Lyndon Hall in Rutland, who prepared a paper and spoke at a meeting of the Royal Society in London in 1760.[51] The existence of other stars changing in brightness gave credence to the idea that some may change in colour too; Sir John Herschel noted this in 1839, possibly influenced by witnessing Eta Carinae two years earlier.[52] Thomas Jefferson Jackson See resurrected discussion on red Sirius with the publication of several papers in 1892, and a final summary in 1926.[53] He cited not only Ptolemy but also the poet Aratus, the orator Cicero, and general Germanicus as colouring the star red, though acknowledging that none of the latter three authors were astronomers, the last two merely translating Aratus' poem Phaenomena.[54] Seneca, too, had described Sirius as being of a deeper red colour than Mars.[55] However, not all ancient observers saw Sirius as red. The 1st century AD poet Marcus Manilius described it as "sea-blue", as did the 4th century Avienus.[56] It is the standard star for the color white in ancient China, and multiple records from the 2nd century BC up to the 7th century AD all describe Sirius as white in hue.[57][58]

In 1985, German astronomers Wolfhard Schlosser and Werner Bergmann published an account of an 8th century Lombardic manuscript, which contains De cursu stellarum ratio by St. Gregory of Tours. The Latin text taught readers how to determine the times of nighttime prayers from positions of the stars, and Sirius is described within as rubeola — "reddish". The authors proposed this was further evidence Sirius B had been a red giant at the time.[59] However, other scholars replied that it was likely St. Gregory had been referring to Arcturus instead.[60][61]

The possibility that stellar evolution of either Sirius A or Sirius B could be responsible for this discrepancy has been rejected by astronomers on the grounds that the timescale of thousands of years is too short and that there is no sign of the nebulosity in the system that would be expected had such a change taken place.[55] An interaction with a third star, to date undiscovered, has also been proposed as a possibility for a red appearance.[62] Alternative explanations are either that the description as red is a poetic metaphor for ill fortune, or that the dramatic scintillations of the star when it was observed rising left the viewer with the impression that it was red. To the naked eye, it often appears to be flashing with red, white and blue hues when near the horizon.[55]
Visibility

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by DerepentLEstranger


already knew that, it wasn't up until 2000 years ago that people started saying Sirius was white blue, it was awarded by its companions or the actual color was changing from reactions near the surface

reply to post by ZeroUnlmtd


a possible 3rd companion? or gas flowing from B to A?

i'll check sirius out later tonight and see

reply to post by DerepentLEstranger


im thinking companion problems, im waiting for tonight to take a look