"Michael Barlow" wrote in message
...
Took a break at 8pm and went out side. I took a glance at the sky to
see what kind of cloud cover we have and to see if I wanted to attempt to
set the scope up or not. I faced North and up at about a 50-60 degree
angle
and out of the blue was a star. It was still far to bright for stars and
yet there it was. For Jupiter and Saturn I'd have to face South and since
I
couldn't see them yet I'd assume I wouldn't be able to see any other stars
for at least an hour. Venus and the Moon were out to the East so I knew
it
wasn't Venus and this was stationary for 15 minutes so I knew it wasn't a
plane or satellite. I had my Brother come out and take a look, Between
the
clouds he seen it so it wasn't my eye's either. Suggestions on what it
could have been?

Michael,

One night many years ago Sue and I spotted a star in bright evening twilight
while hiking near the club's observatory. At first, we thought it was
Jupiter, and wondered how long it would be before it would be dark enough to
reveal Mars, which was not far from Jupiter at the time. Looking farther
westward, we spotted Venus, and realized the "star" was too bright for
Jupiter. We then noticed Jupiter and Mars, and our extra bright star became
a mystery. We headed down the trail toward the observatory, glacing from
time to time at the mysterious interloper. As I glanced at it once, it
suddenly vanished, and I thought I glimpsed a brief line of light as it
disappeared.

Sue is not one to let a mystery go unsolved, so she spent part of the next
morning on the phone. We had seen a weather balloon and its demise. More
recently, we saw another, also very bright. This one was viewed by a
neighbor with an RV-6, and he could see the instrument package below the
balloon. That is certainly a possible explanation for your mysterious star.

Clear skies, Alan