What am I seeing tonight????

[amberstar]

Hi everyone!

Does anyone know what I am seeing tonight in the sky? It is a bright star or maybe a planet. Oblong in shape and a bright orange with a white halo around it.

I've never seen anything like this before, it's kinda neat!


Amberstar

[Rowan]

Hey Amberstar I went out and had a look and the only thing I see that is oblong in shape up there is the International Space Sation, but it doesn't look orange to me just very bright white...

[amberstar]

Thanks Rowan, Maybe that is what I am seeing. Whatever it is ..... it is HUGE!
One of my friends told me not to wory. It was the mother ship and it had finally come to get me! LOL

(don't know if I still think she's a friend or not)

Amber

[Darth Marley]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980402.html
the halo can be caused by ice or water in the atmosphere.

I have seen a site that guides a person to spotting the ISS. Haven't found it yet.

[amberstar]

Thank you Darth. That looks like what I am seeing, with an orange tint !

Amber

[Darth Marley]

Could be ISS, or an Iridium, or some other satellite.

This looks like a good traking site http://www.heavens-above.com/

My fav site for halo pics is http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/atoptics/phenom.htm

[Rowan]

Thanks Darth that's cool, your lucky Amberstar to be seing that! here is another site to look at it shows the position of the ISS in realtion to the earth...

http://science.nasa.gov/temp/StationLoc.html


http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

http://www.meatnpotatoes.com/locate.html

http://www.kanawai.net/issloc.php ok this one has a great song to go with it and it has most of the web sites we just listed all under the same place .

[thomas7g]

Maybe its causing the rain here.

Yesterday was warm and sunny!

[amberstar]

Thanks for all the great links!

Amber

The ISS is only visible for between two and six minutes at a pass. And I would think it is too far away to have a detectable oblong shape. Plus it ordinarily appears bright white, like Venus, not orange. But the main thing is that it moves rapidly, and will go from near the horizon to a point directly overhead (if that happens to be its path) in only two or three minutes. Did the object you were watching appear to be in motion?
Could it have been Venus? Would have to have been something in the sky to cause it to go orange, because Venus is usually a brilliant white. Was it located directly above due west, between ten and thirty degrees above the horizon (depending on what time you saw it.)
If you're sure it wasn't Venus, try e-mailing your local newspaper and see if they have any information. I once did that to find out about what sounded like a loud explosion a mile or so from my house, and it turned out to have been a sonic boom from the Space Shuttle returning from orbit. Your newspaper might know something.

[amberstar]

Thanks TomB! I thought it might have been mars to have a color to it, but the oblong shape threw me. I'll check out the news papers. Thanks!

Amber

[doc834]

Amberstar, the sights you passed are great. Thank you!!

Amber, if you ever find out what it was, please remember to let us all know!
Thanks.

I know that my relatives and I at my house (Sacramento, CA) that night saw a very bright planet in the Western sky. We talked about how it had to be a planet because it was far too bright to be a star. It didn't seem orange to us but bright bright white. I don't think it was Venus (Doesn't Venus stay fairly low to the horizon and appear brightest in the early evening and morning?) or Mars. We thought it may be Jupiter. Maybe we have an astronomy type that knows the answer.

It did seem to be the brightest planet/star I had ever seen in the night sky.

Originally Posted by antelope526

I know that my relatives and I at my house (Sacramento, CA) that night saw a very bright planet in the Western sky. We talked about how it had to be a planet because it was far too bright to be a star. It didn't seem orange to us but bright bright white. I don't think it was Venus (Doesn't Venus stay fairly low to the horizon and appear brightest in the early evening and morning?) or Mars. We thought it may be Jupiter. Maybe we have an astronomy type that knows the answer.

It did seem to be the brightest planet/star I had ever seen in the night sky.

You almost certainly were looking at Venus. It is very high in the western sky when darkness first falls, and right now it is close to as bright as it ever gets, which is pretty bright.

[amberstar]

Originally Posted by Bombadil

Amber, if you ever find out what it was, please remember to let us all know!
Thanks.

I promise when I find out I'll let you know

[Rowan]

Amber did you ever find out anything about what you saw?

[amberstar]

Originally Posted by Rowan

Amber did you ever find out anything about what you saw?

I've decided that it must have been venus

[Rowan]

you mean it wasn't the Galactica? Darn they should be here by now!

[amberstar]

Originally Posted by Rowan

you mean it wasn't the Galactica? Darn they should be here by now!

LOL!

Boy.... Do I wish it would have been the Big G

[Rowan]

I hear ya! when I was a teenager I'd lie out in my sleeping bag at night, stare at the night sky and hope and wait... I'm serious! LOL!

[amberstar]

Originally Posted by Rowan

I hear ya! when I was a teenager I'd lie out in my sleeping bag at night, stare at the night sky and hope and wait... I'm serious! LOL!

I'd do the same thing, but mostly see falling stars. I lay on the hood of the family car and wonder what it would be like to be up there.....flying among the stars
What an amazing feeling that would be!

[Rowan]

Originally Posted by amberstar

I'd do the same thing, but mostly see falling stars. I lay on the hood of the family car and wonder what it would be like to be up there.....flying among the stars
What an amazing feeling that would be!

Really? I thought I was the only girl who ever thought like that! So nice to find another woman who felt / feels that way! *sigh* if only we could...should have been born a hundred years from now then we probably could have....

[shiningstar]

Originally Posted by Darth Marley

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980402.html
the halo can be caused by ice or water in the atmosphere.

I have seen a site that guides a person to spotting the ISS. Haven't found it yet.

Thanks Darth ...........a friend of mine when he saw it swore it was a UFO.
The Airforce told him what the 'halo' was .......but he wouldn't believe them.

Originally Posted by Darth Marley

I have seen a site that guides a person to spotting the ISS. Haven't found it yet.

Skypub.com (Sky & Telescope Magazine site)

Click on "almanac". Set your location and time zone, and it will tell you when and where the ISS will be visible from your location in the next five days.

[amberstar]

Originally Posted by Bombadil

Skypub.com (Sky & Telescope Magazine site)

Click on "almanac". Set your location and time zone, and it will tell you when and where the ISS will be visible from your location in the next five days.

Cool Thanks TomB

[shiningstar]

Originally Posted by Bombadil

Skypub.com (Sky & Telescope Magazine site)

Click on "almanac". Set your location and time zone, and it will tell you when and where the ISS will be visible from your location in the next five days.

Thanks for the info