!Attention!

Could it be solar sail satelites. I recently read that a space agency is creating and puting in orbit now satelites that use solar sails.

it could be feisable that they find a nutral point from the grav of earth to the pus h of the sun and stay stationary in orbit. the high reflectivity of the sails would in effect reflect alot of light and i mean alot

it would fit in with evrything they are saying

Originally posted by diehard_democrat
Just to prove that my version of Starry Night is better than yours, a screenshot of that exact same view. It's Starry Night Pro 4.5.2, and I'm upgrading to 5.0 soon.

I don't have Starry Night Pro because I don't NEED Starry Night Pro. If you'd like me to get it, I easily could, considering that the 26 lab computers here are all running 5.0. Would that make it easier for you?

And for kicks I'll revise my last statement... It's not a matter of credentials or software, but a matter of knowledge. And besides, more junk cluttered on the screen by Starry Night Pro can get annoying... Mine keeps it simple. More isn't neccessarily better. You find that out a lot in astronomy.

Originally posted by Emily_Cragg
Why is Venus appearing larger than the MOON?

As Mizar said, it's my software. It's set up to show my brightness. Right now the Moon is a thin crescent, so pretty much everything else is brighter to it.

Originally posted by Mizar
Could it be solar sail satelites. I recently read that a space agency is creating and puting in orbit now satelites that use solar sails.

it could be feisable that they find a nutral point from the grav of earth to the pus h of the sun and stay stationary in orbit. the high reflectivity of the sails would in effect reflect alot of light and i mean alot

it would fit in with evrything they are saying

Yeah, but it would be reflecting that light back towards the Sun... Otherwise it wouldn't be very effiecient. Also, I don't think anything is up like that yet. What article were you reading?

Aw right, you guys. You've got me getting off my duff and going to look.

I know where the planets are clustered up there; tonight I'm gonna just go watch for a while.

And then I'll get up at 3 in the morning and go see what has moved. Then maybe I can comment from personal experience.

But I don't have any astronomical software; I don't have a map of the sky in my brain; and I'm not only not an astronomer, I never know what I'm even looking at. That's why I take so many pictures; 'cause maybe someday I'll have the time to figure it out.

Thanks for keeping me up to date on your struggle with this mystery. I'll hang around some more.

Can I barrow one of these?

Okay. Last night I went and looked at 8 pm. (note: I'm in NYC, and we only get about 15 stars on a good night, so these are really bright.) There the Blinkies were, on Orions left shoulder and right foot.

These are not solar sails. They flash disco colors. I don't think that NASA would go to the trouble to put things like this in space to line up directly with Orions left shoulder and right foot, to flash disco colors. (Unless Orion's turning into a party boy)

Here's the catch, last month, i was on vacation in NC, and saw these same "stars". they were not part of Orion at that time. (And yes, they WERE the same "stars", no mistaking these things. They are always the same distance apart, the red one being higher and to the left of the white/green/blue one. The same as Orions left shoulder and right foot. --in other words, facing Orion, our left shoulder in a mirror.) I had my telescope with me, and they throbbed the same as they do now.

These Blinkies are not natural.
I'm buying a better telescope.

Are you serious? Those cost like $16,000! The UW-RF has one of them though, but they have streetlights that we can see from way up in the observatory. I thought lights were supposed to light up the ground, not the sky

Actually I bought this in August this year, and now they came out with an even better one. I'm so [censored] off.... I think before 90 days is up I can return it, but I can't find the damn receipt!

Regardless of how much I now want the new scope, I'm hosting a star party tonight. For those near the Hudson area of Wisconsin, you can go to Willow River State Park and see me there.

Coney: Buy your telescope from Meade. Celestron just copies Meade. One time Celestron copied Meade's computer handheld controllers, so they went ahead and filed a friggin' huge lawsuit. It took them like 3 years to settle it, but Meade won. Go to Meade's website using this here link and check out their stuff. They just manufacture their telescopes, so you should buy yours from Discovery.com because they sell the ETX-125ATU for $945, and everybody else I could find sold it for more than $1150.

[edit on 11/12/04 by diehard_democrat]

Originally posted by coney
Okay. Last night I went and looked at 8 pm. (note: I'm in NYC, and we only get about 15 stars on a good night, so these are really bright.) There the Blinkies were, on Orions left shoulder and right foot.

Ahem... Let's take a look at a star chart here... Oh yes, Orion's left shoulder would be the star Betelgeuse. Last time I checked, Betelgeuse was a red, 0 magnitude star. Hmm... Well down at his right foot we have the star Rigel. Now what about Rigel? Oh well geez! Rigel just happens to be a blue, 0 magnitude star. Hmmm... So bright stars, when along the horizon (or at least near it) that seem to scintilate? I see nothing odd about that at all...

[edit on 11/12/2004 by cmdrkeenkid]

Originally posted by diehard_democrat
Are you serious? Those cost like $16,000! The UW-RF has one of them though, but they have streetlights that we can see from way up in the observatory. I thought lights were supposed to light up the ground, not the sky

Actually I bought this in August this year, and now they came out with an even better one. I'm so [censored] off....

I think before 90 days is up I can return it, but I can't find the damn receipt!

Regardless of how much I now want the new scope, I'm hosting a star party tonight. For those near the Hudson area of Wisconsin, you can go to Willow River State Park and see me there.

Coney: Buy your telescope from Meade. Celestron just copies Meade. One time Celestron copied Meade's computer handheld controllers, so they went ahead and filed a friggin' huge lawsuit. It took them like 3 years to settle it, but Meade won. Go to Meade's website using this here link and check out their stuff. They just manufacture their telescopes, so you should buy yours from Discovery.com because they sell the ETX-125ATU for $945, and everybody else I could find sold it for more than $1150.

[edit on 11/12/04 by diehard_democrat]

Can that new one be connected to your laptop and other software for your starparty? I found a serial to WIFI converter module I would like to try on the scope for true remote control.
How do you like the scope? other than it being succeeded so soon

[edit on 11/12/2004 by Notme]

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid

Originally posted by coney
Okay. Last night I went and looked at 8 pm. (note: I'm in NYC, and we only get about 15 stars on a good night, so these are really bright.) There the Blinkies were, on Orions left shoulder and right foot.

Ahem... Let's take a look at a star chart here... Oh yes, Orion's left shoulder would be the star Betelgeuse. Last time I checked, Betelgeuse was a red, 0 magnitude star. Hmm... Well down at his right foot we have the star Rigel. Now what about Rigel? Oh well geez! Rigel just happens to be a blue, 0 magnitude star. Hmmm... So bright stars, when along the horizon (or at least near it) that seem to scintilate? I see nothing odd about that at all...

[edit on 11/12/2004 by cmdrkeenkid]

over my time on ats there are a few members who i have come to trust and rely on for good, solid, backed up knowledge in a variety of fields, and cmdrkeenkid, you are one of them. but hasnt it been mentioned that these same objects have been visible in the same spot for months, even years?

diehard demo

Yea thoes lxgps 16s cost al heller lot

i have a etx 90 it was my first scope years ago i love it still but i have alot of drive problems with it. but ya see i got luckey with my 90 i get it cheap ut any way... it looks like you have the 125 if so hows that working? i like my meade but i hate the company! i really do. ive called their coustmer service 5 times 4 tiems ive had a total a** for a informant. and my scope has had drive problems numerous times. they market to everyone and try to win people over. like the new etx! the old ones were so much better. the jumped the prices on them in the past year. now they have nice perty pic of the lagoon nebula on tehm and a telerad finder. and i think telerads are crap. also if your buying a scope i sugest ORION not meade or celestron. Orion has great souctomer service and great scopes for great prices. Meade and Celestron try to get people caught up in the whole TRACKING AND AUTO FIND! COMPUTERIZED TELESCOPE! you dont need it. i love my 10 inch dob i use it more than my etx 90 haveing 35,000 objects to locate is pointless i can look up everything i want to see find it myself and get a better understang of the sky. it sucks to say " Yea im an astronomer!' and have people ask you to point out a constelation and you cant becasue you had a computerized socpe. i just dont think its worth it to spend the extra 200$ for a computer and a drives its verry simple to get a star atlas and look um up. computerized scopes take away alot of the exciment of astronomy for me i enjoy the hunt the messier marathons its alot of fun. and for the most part alot of the objects in the 35,000 are plain old stars, and stuff in the other hemisphere.

im sorry if im riping on compy scopes i like them but you dont need them ive seen so many kids get distracted in it all they see the stars and are like wow thats amazing but i cant afford a telescope. buy binoculars buy amanual scope. its better i think dont waste the money unles you are intrested in astrophotography.

sorry again im geting off subject

i really dont think that uninformed claims can be taken as fact though in a situtaion like this. someone who has no experience in the stars goes up seese a " star" and says it is our object in question

now for my solar sail idea
i watcehd a program recently well in 2000 about space travel and they talked about the solar sails. they said they had communication satelites and otehr staelites already useing the tech in orbit so i had the thought it may be to keep them in a strange place
i wouldnt rule the theory out yet

an that new one be connected to your laptop and other software for your starparty? I found a serial to WIFI converter module I would like to try on the scope for true remote control.

Well, both the one I have and the newer one can be connected to a laptop, but I only have a really old Mac that drains it's battery in less than 45 minutes, and the software only works on Windows.

Last night a guy with a homemade 15 inch monster scope came. He was looking for NGC 891, and he said it would be impossible to see in my tiny 5 inch. Well, it just so happens that without using the Autostar I found it before he did.

The ETX-125 eats the batteries quicker in cold weather (it was like 18�F out last night) so I need a cigarette lighter adaptor for it, or else buy a cheap inverter so the AC adaptor will work.

But back on topic, I didn't see anything like what ADVISOR saw last night, and I was looking really hard for it. I'm in Wisconsin, and coney's from New York, so I don't think it's over where I am. The only really bright stars I saw were Betelgeuse, Rigel, and Sirius (dog star). Betelgeuse changes red and white and orange because it was close to the horizon, Sirius is white, red, blue, green, changes rapidly, and Rigel is pretty much the same as Sirius.

So, I guess I can't really be of much assistance if you're looking for somebody who has seen it. If there is anybody else in the midwest who has seen this (ADVISOR I believe is) please speak up.

Like Mizar said, you don't always need the fancy stuff, the old fashioned way can work too. As fr the 15 incher, there's always somebody with a bigger one
I live in the norhteast and do recall seeing some unusualy bright objects in the sky around 5:30am, but I was running late for work and couldn't take a good look. Now the weather has been horrible and can't see anything.
Sorry I can't confirm.

i wanna know what it was they saw

i just want a conclusive "ok thats obviously what it was"

im very curious

and you guys must be filty rich to afford the 15,000$ telescope

i feed my wife and 5month old child on
8,000$ a year
*live in texas

lol i could live 2 years on the price it cost for one of those uber-scopes

hope you figure out what the sightings were of...

muzzlefish: We don't really own one of them, we just dream of owning it. Well, I don't really need the electronics for it, I'm saving up for a 24" dob that costs 9 grand. Not from Meade, but Discovery telescopes. Don't get that confused with Discovery.com.

Advisor,

Any updates??
can the object still be observed ? I have been looking from the Philly area, but haven't seen anything since that morning a couple of weeks ago.

And muzzleflash,

My wife would KILL me if I bought a scope like that.
If I had one, I'd give it to someone like diehard_democrat
or somebody who could really use it to it's full capability. I would waste it.
A $500 scope is more than enough for me to handle.

Diehard, see my post at:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 11/14/2004 by Notme]

I'll U2U ADVISOR, because I don't think he realizes that his thread is active again.

But anyway, I'm really mad now. The ETX that I bought from Discovery Channel Store had to be returned within 30 days of purchase, had to be unused, and needed to include the original receipt.

So, is anybody here interested in a $1200 scope for only $825? I'm serious. If you are interested in this (ADVISOR said he wanted to buy one sometime) just U2U me and we'll try to get in contact.

By the way, I'm not selling it on eBay because I don't want it to land in the wrong hands.

[edit on 11/16/04 by diehard_democrat]

Okay, so...

I've been keeping my eyes out for oddities in the sky, and last night I saw an incredibly active blinking star that was white/purple/green.. It was directly down from Orion's foot. 11pm, EST, due East. Stars just don't do this, they never have.

The red blinky thing that was Orions shoulder is still there. It does, however, move with Orion. It still blinks like crazy, even above the horizon. It is Orions shoulder. I know that it's supposed to be Betelguese (?) but it's never done this before. Could it be possible that the stars are not what they seem?

Twinkle twinkle, little star, how I wonder WTF you are....

I swear there are many of these active "stars" in the sky. I really want an exceptionally large telescope to look at them.

Does anyone have a way of recording several seconds of one of these Blinkies and then slow down the footage to see if there's pattern in the colors that are flashing? They seem to go in some kind of pattern, but it's too fast for the naked eye. If we can dicipher it, it'll be just like in "Contact" with Jodie Foster, or Close Encounters.

Perhaps this may explain what you are seeing.

And even though Betelgeuse can and does get somewhat high up in the sky, it will still blink rapidly because it's so bright. Sirius is the brightest star, and it will flicker, or scintillate, the most.

So, is there any more news on this object? It's been cloudy here in Wisconsin so I haven't seen this, but I haven't seen this thing at all even on the clear nights when I was looking for it.

I contacted ADVISOR and he said he was on vacation, so I hope he replies soon to find out what happened and if any of his information fits with our sightings.

Originally posted by allergist
I have a question. Do you think i would be able to see it from
aRiZ0na? Nevada? Califronia?

I'm in the northern hemisphere, so no clue. It is just above the tree line on the horizon by say two or three finger widths.

Originally posted by cimmerius
Could it be a surveillance blimp?

I don't think so, it is of a extreamly high altitude from my persective, and why would anything involved in "surveillance" give it's self away with multiflashing lights? Nope it's isn't doing a very good job of spying if it is.

Originally posted by Ben7866
how hard would it be to spot this thing?

Not hard if you go over any of the co-ordinates I've given, it always seems to stay close to the known path I've recorded.

Originally posted by Arek
What the man is seeing is most likely Venus, or possibly Saturn. If you could please tell me it's location one more time in the next day or two, we'll be able to figure out what it is.

Not possible, no planet changes color like that from what I've seen. This thing does move, just not fast ok.

Also I have posted where I've seen it, by useing a compass.

Originally posted by DrpKeeGTZ
I may have missed this, but I thought I read every post. My questions are. 1)Where are you located? (from one of the first post I only get that your east) 2) hight above horizon line? (something was said about 55 degrees in the north, then something was said about 114 degrees east) 3) Between what times do you see it?

1) Across the lake from you in Muskegon, most of the time. I have been able to find it better in Hesperia.

2) About two or three finger widths above trees. Or if no trees appro. four finger widths above horizon.

3) After the sun sets, when it is very dark, any time between say 9 pm and 3 am. I've seen it all hours of the night and probably could track it better if I spent all night doing that.

Originally posted by diehard_democrat
I am an astronomer, and I know for a fact that it is Capella (a star).

By chance does that star move around completely in disregard of the other stars? Since I have seen it in Ursa major one evening then some days later it can seen it on the complete opposite side of the sky, I'm going to disagree with you.


"I am sorry to burst your bubble,diehard_democrat, but it is not only a star", I have seen stars, they do not relocate out of sequence from their surroundings, sure it probably isn't some super secret hight tech sattellite, why would anyone put flashing freaking lights on it if it was sposed to be "secret". It obviously has the lights so high altitude craft do not collide with it, or even for visual tracking. What I don't know is what it is.

Originally posted by Mizar
Could it be solar sail satelites.

More likely, the reflection of the light spectrum might contribute to the rapid flashing, this is a more plausable explanation than most I have read or concluded to.

Originally posted by dunkleskateshasnt it been mentioned that these same objects have been visible in the same spot for months, even years?

If you are refuring to the object I've noticed, yes, I first noticed it years ago, and have been perplexed ever since.

Originally posted by Notme
Any updates??

Not yet but I will, start a log of all sightings with times and location in magnetic coordinates.

By the way, diehard_democrat I'll be in contact with you at times of observation, since you are almost in the same spot I am, just across the lake and all. So when I do get a visual you'll be the first to know. I'll u2u you with details then.

[edit on 21-11-2004 by ADVISOR]