Light in the West

Hi,

I am in Hendersonville, NC. At 9:35 this PM I looked at about 35
degrees up in a West facing direction, and there is what appears to be
a normal star, except it is flashing.. red, pink, green colors. It's
not a plane.. it's been in the same place since I saw it (though
moving down in the horizon very slowly, as in the normal rotation of
things. When looking through the not-powerful telescope it appears
with bright whole center and red outline. It is a very clear night
here. Can someone tell me what this is? It's very strange, I have
never seen anything like it.

Thanks,

Cej

red + green = commercial helicopter or other aircraft.

wrote in message ...
Hi,

I am in Hendersonville, NC. At 9:35 this PM I looked at about 35
degrees up in a West facing direction, and there is what appears to be
a normal star, except it is flashing.. red, pink, green colors. It's
not a plane.. it's been in the same place since I saw it (though
moving down in the horizon very slowly, as in the normal rotation of
things. When looking through the not-powerful telescope it appears
with bright whole center and red outline. It is a very clear night
here. Can someone tell me what this is? It's very strange, I have
never seen anything like it.

Thanks,

Cej

red + green = commercial helicopter or other aircraft.

wrote in message ...
Hi,

I am in Hendersonville, NC. At 9:35 this PM I looked at about 35
degrees up in a West facing direction, and there is what appears to be
a normal star, except it is flashing.. red, pink, green colors. It's
not a plane.. it's been in the same place since I saw it (though
moving down in the horizon very slowly, as in the normal rotation of
things. When looking through the not-powerful telescope it appears
with bright whole center and red outline. It is a very clear night
here. Can someone tell me what this is? It's very strange, I have
never seen anything like it.

Thanks,

Cej

No, that's not what it was.. it was a star or planet of sorts. As I
said, it did not move over a period of 15 minutes, just a slight
downward drift that followed the normal rotation of the night sky. It
was 'twinkling' intensly, not flashing as an aircraft would. It was
just very visable and quite noticable tonight from my location. Maybe
there is a sky map of sorts I could check?

Thanks,

Cej


On Sat, 13 Sep 2003 19:34:57 -0700, "Rick" wrote:

red + green = commercial helicopter or other aircraft.

wrote in message ...
Hi,

I am in Hendersonville, NC. At 9:35 this PM I looked at about 35
degrees up in a West facing direction, and there is what appears to be
a normal star, except it is flashing.. red, pink, green colors. It's
not a plane.. it's been in the same place since I saw it (though
moving down in the horizon very slowly, as in the normal rotation of
things. When looking through the not-powerful telescope it appears
with bright whole center and red outline. It is a very clear night
here. Can someone tell me what this is? It's very strange, I have
never seen anything like it.

Thanks,

Cej

No, that's not what it was.. it was a star or planet of sorts. As I
said, it did not move over a period of 15 minutes, just a slight
downward drift that followed the normal rotation of the night sky. It
was 'twinkling' intensly, not flashing as an aircraft would. It was
just very visable and quite noticable tonight from my location. Maybe
there is a sky map of sorts I could check?

Thanks,

Cej


On Sat, 13 Sep 2003 19:34:57 -0700, "Rick" wrote:

red + green = commercial helicopter or other aircraft.

wrote in message ...
Hi,

I am in Hendersonville, NC. At 9:35 this PM I looked at about 35
degrees up in a West facing direction, and there is what appears to be
a normal star, except it is flashing.. red, pink, green colors. It's
not a plane.. it's been in the same place since I saw it (though
moving down in the horizon very slowly, as in the normal rotation of
things. When looking through the not-powerful telescope it appears
with bright whole center and red outline. It is a very clear night
here. Can someone tell me what this is? It's very strange, I have
never seen anything like it.

Thanks,

Cej

wrote in
:

Hi,

I am in Hendersonville, NC. At 9:35 this PM I looked at about 35
degrees up in a West facing direction, and there is what appears to be
a normal star, except it is flashing.. red, pink, green colors. It's
not a plane.. it's been in the same place since I saw it (though
moving down in the horizon very slowly, as in the normal rotation of
things. When looking through the not-powerful telescope it appears
with bright whole center and red outline. It is a very clear night
here. Can someone tell me what this is? It's very strange, I have
never seen anything like it.

Thanks,

Cej

Contenders in west at time and place given

Vega 65 deg up
Altair 60 deg up
Arcturus 6 deg up
Antares 4 deg up

None of these bright stars fits the elevation of 35 deg. Vega at about
would have lowered enough at midnigh to produce the effects you reported.
Otherwise its Antares or Arcturus only a few degrees (not 35 deg) elevation
that would also produce the effect at the time you gave.

A bright star at 35 elevation usually does not twinkle with colours until
it is only a few degrees above the horizon like Arcturus and Antares were
at that time. Are you sure the time was correct and are you sure of the
elevation?

A "small telescope" with mediocre optics would merely exacerbate the
colours by adding its own residual chromatic aberration giving the
appearance you described.

Martin

wrote in
:

Hi,

I am in Hendersonville, NC. At 9:35 this PM I looked at about 35
degrees up in a West facing direction, and there is what appears to be
a normal star, except it is flashing.. red, pink, green colors. It's
not a plane.. it's been in the same place since I saw it (though
moving down in the horizon very slowly, as in the normal rotation of
things. When looking through the not-powerful telescope it appears
with bright whole center and red outline. It is a very clear night
here. Can someone tell me what this is? It's very strange, I have
never seen anything like it.

Thanks,

Cej

Contenders in west at time and place given

Vega 65 deg up
Altair 60 deg up
Arcturus 6 deg up
Antares 4 deg up

None of these bright stars fits the elevation of 35 deg. Vega at about
would have lowered enough at midnigh to produce the effects you reported.
Otherwise its Antares or Arcturus only a few degrees (not 35 deg) elevation
that would also produce the effect at the time you gave.

A bright star at 35 elevation usually does not twinkle with colours until
it is only a few degrees above the horizon like Arcturus and Antares were
at that time. Are you sure the time was correct and are you sure of the
elevation?

A "small telescope" with mediocre optics would merely exacerbate the
colours by adding its own residual chromatic aberration giving the
appearance you described.

Martin

wrote in message...
...

No, that's not what it was.. it was a star or planet of sorts. As I
said, it did not move over a period of 15 minutes, just a slight
downward drift that followed the normal rotation of the night sky. It
was 'twinkling' intensly, not flashing as an aircraft would. It was
just very visable and quite noticable tonight from my location. Maybe
there is a sky map of sorts I could check?

Thanks,

Cej

'Lo Cej --

Most likely the star Arcturus... here's what you can do...

Tonight, if the sky is clear, head out about the same time and
look for the "Big Dipper." It'll be northwest or so. When you
find the BD, follow the handle around and then straight south.

If you soon come to the same object you saw last night, then
it's Arcturus, one of the most beautiful and brightest stars in
the sky...

Arcturus is a little less than 37 light-years away. It's very large--
almost 70 times wider than our own star--and it shines with a
luminosity of nearly 1200 of our Suns!

The multicoloring happens a lot when stars, specially bright
ones like Arcturus, get closer and closer to the horizon. They
have more and more of Earth's atmosphere to penetrate, so
their twinkling gets more and more beautiful!

hth

happy days and...
starry starry nights!

--
Asimov! where have you gone?
Your written word goes on and on,
All becomes so clear to see
In Asimov's Astronomy!

Paine Ellsworth

wrote in message...
...

No, that's not what it was.. it was a star or planet of sorts. As I
said, it did not move over a period of 15 minutes, just a slight
downward drift that followed the normal rotation of the night sky. It
was 'twinkling' intensly, not flashing as an aircraft would. It was
just very visable and quite noticable tonight from my location. Maybe
there is a sky map of sorts I could check?

Thanks,

Cej

'Lo Cej --

Most likely the star Arcturus... here's what you can do...

Tonight, if the sky is clear, head out about the same time and
look for the "Big Dipper." It'll be northwest or so. When you
find the BD, follow the handle around and then straight south.

If you soon come to the same object you saw last night, then
it's Arcturus, one of the most beautiful and brightest stars in
the sky...

Arcturus is a little less than 37 light-years away. It's very large--
almost 70 times wider than our own star--and it shines with a
luminosity of nearly 1200 of our Suns!

The multicoloring happens a lot when stars, specially bright
ones like Arcturus, get closer and closer to the horizon. They
have more and more of Earth's atmosphere to penetrate, so
their twinkling gets more and more beautiful!

hth

happy days and...
starry starry nights!

--
Asimov! where have you gone?
Your written word goes on and on,
All becomes so clear to see
In Asimov's Astronomy!

Paine Ellsworth

I agree. It's Arcturus, one of the most beautiful sights in the night sky.


"Painius" wrote in message
...
wrote in message...
...

No, that's not what it was.. it was a star or planet of sorts. As I
said, it did not move over a period of 15 minutes, just a slight
downward drift that followed the normal rotation of the night sky. It
was 'twinkling' intensly, not flashing as an aircraft would. It was
just very visable and quite noticable tonight from my location. Maybe
there is a sky map of sorts I could check?

Thanks,

Cej

'Lo Cej --

Most likely the star Arcturus... here's what you can do...

Tonight, if the sky is clear, head out about the same time and
look for the "Big Dipper." It'll be northwest or so. When you
find the BD, follow the handle around and then straight south.

If you soon come to the same object you saw last night, then
it's Arcturus, one of the most beautiful and brightest stars in
the sky...

Arcturus is a little less than 37 light-years away. It's very large--
almost 70 times wider than our own star--and it shines with a
luminosity of nearly 1200 of our Suns!

The multicoloring happens a lot when stars, specially bright
ones like Arcturus, get closer and closer to the horizon. They
have more and more of Earth's atmosphere to penetrate, so
their twinkling gets more and more beautiful!

hth

happy days and...
starry starry nights!

--
Asimov! where have you gone?
Your written word goes on and on,
All becomes so clear to see
In Asimov's Astronomy!

Paine Ellsworth