Recent comments in /f/space
Andyman0110 OP t1_j8g41jv wrote
Reply to comment by Ape_Togetha_Strong in I saw something in the sky last night. help with ID? by Andyman0110
It didn't seem like any of the other ones were also moving beyond the horizon. This one was brighter than anything else in the sky and didn't seem like it was part of any constellation. I'm not an expert I just genuinely am not trying to mark it off as something it isn't. A lot of these answers do provide partial explanations but all of the circumstances together always provides a gap in the suggestions mentioned.
Ape_Togetha_Strong t1_j8g3ou2 wrote
Reply to comment by Andyman0110 in I saw something in the sky last night. help with ID? by Andyman0110
You mean the movement of the star moving below the horizon? Yes... stars move below the horizon.
Andyman0110 OP t1_j8g2rjw wrote
Reply to comment by Ape_Togetha_Strong in I saw something in the sky last night. help with ID? by Andyman0110
Wouldn't a star appear fixed and not moving? It definitely looks like what I was seeing, except for the movement. I was pretty sure no matter what, stars are so far away that they don't move past the horizon of our view. I might be wrong. The app another user suggested I download showed Sirius in the south east but the object I saw was very clearly south west.
Ape_Togetha_Strong t1_j8g2clp wrote
You saw a star.
Andyman0110 OP t1_j8g1rjw wrote
Reply to comment by Fit-Firefighter-329 in I saw something in the sky last night. help with ID? by Andyman0110
To be honest I'm leaning way more towards jupiter than aircraft.
Fit-Firefighter-329 t1_j8g1kml wrote
Aircraft have a green light on their starboard side, and a red light on their port side, just like ships/boats. It was probably a helicopter off in the distance.
Andyman0110 OP t1_j8fvdmo wrote
Reply to comment by casc1701 in I saw something in the sky last night. help with ID? by Andyman0110
I don't think this is necessarily true. I can post photos I took of the moon vs this object. I can literally see the craters on the moon but I can't make out a single detail on this object other than light. It was also more twinkling colors rather than a proper blinking at intervals. I tried to get a photo of when it appeared red but I got two that are green and one white photo. I really really doubt it's a plane. I know what they look like. It also wouldn't sit an hour in my vision, moving as slowly as it did without changing size or light intensity.
casc1701 t1_j8fubuz wrote
It was a plane. Blinking color lights are always a plane.
ruchi_prasad t1_j8fs87a wrote
Reply to Hours to impact! A newly discovered asteroid will hit Earth's atmosphere near northern France on February 13 around 03:00 UTC (that's around 9 pm CST). Fortunately, the asteroid, named Sar2667, is just 1-meter wide, which means it poses no danger to Earth. by Remote_Combination14
I think even a meter of asteroid would cause a disaster depending on its velocity. So what velocity is it actually traveling in?
SenateLaunchScrubbed t1_j8fqk5m wrote
You can't really know how far it is, how large it is, or how fast it's moving. A large object moving very fast very far away will look just like a much smaller object moving much slower much closer to you.
Given your description, it sounds like a plane.
[deleted] t1_j8fnvhd wrote
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[deleted] t1_j8fmcp3 wrote
Reply to comment by weathercat4 in I saw something in the sky last night. help with ID? by Andyman0110
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UrafuckinNerd t1_j8flolq wrote
Reply to Hours to impact! A newly discovered asteroid will hit Earth's atmosphere near northern France on February 13 around 03:00 UTC (that's around 9 pm CST). Fortunately, the asteroid, named Sar2667, is just 1-meter wide, which means it poses no danger to Earth. by Remote_Combination14
Help track asteroids! https://asteroidsathome.net/boinc/
UrafuckinNerd t1_j8fksik wrote
Reply to The James Webb Space Telescope just found an asteroid by total accident, its smallest object yet by pecika
Help track and discover with Astroids@home! https://asteroidsathome.net/boinc/
Andyman0110 OP t1_j8fjv49 wrote
Reply to comment by weathercat4 in I saw something in the sky last night. help with ID? by Andyman0110
Very cool. The brain doesn't waste any opportunity to trick you lol. This is exactly what I saw, in clockwise circles too.
GrumpyOldBear1968 t1_j8fjb7b wrote
Thanks for posting this, the answers have finally solved the mystery of a "UFO" I saw as a child!
the description is exactly what I saw, and now I have the answers. no childhood aliens lol
Andyman0110 OP t1_j8ficgd wrote
Reply to comment by Waddensky in I saw something in the sky last night. help with ID? by Andyman0110
Usually I can see the details of an airplane, like the shape and what not. I don't live far from an airport so generally I can hear and see them pretty well. I used my phone to zoom in 30x which usually let's me see even windows on a plane. This was still just an orb of light at max zoom.
I thought maybe a drone too, but it was flying for over an hour and was really far but still very bright. It seemed a little unlikely although it's not impossible. It really seemed to be in space and not in earth's atmosphere. Sirius is a bit too far east to be what I saw.
Waddensky t1_j8fhilw wrote
How did you know that it was further than an airplane? It's very hard to judge distances in the sky if your only reference is a light.
My first hunch would be a drone, they have blinking lights in different colours and move erratically.
Another suggestion is Sirius, a bright star well-known for it's twinkling and apparent rapid colour changing.
weathercat4 t1_j8fhg07 wrote
Reply to comment by Andyman0110 in I saw something in the sky last night. help with ID? by Andyman0110
That's called scintillation, it's cause by turbulence in the atmosphere refracting the light around. It's mostly noticable on bright objects near the horizon because you are looking through more atmosphere.
The apparent zipping around you described is another interesting illusion.
https://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/autokinetic-effect-2.php
Andyman0110 OP t1_j8fh19o wrote
Reply to comment by weathercat4 in I saw something in the sky last night. help with ID? by Andyman0110
Wow that's a really cool app. Thank you for that. It does appear to be jupiter from a very general quick look. I didn't know that it can flash different colors.
weathercat4 t1_j8fgi3e wrote
Jupiter or Venus most likely. They move the same speed as the sun, it's the earth spinning 15°/hour.
Download an app like stellarium and check.
LegitimateGift1792 t1_j8ey9it wrote
Reply to comment by NeokratosRed in Hours to impact! A newly discovered asteroid will hit Earth's atmosphere near northern France on February 13 around 03:00 UTC (that's around 9 pm CST). Fortunately, the asteroid, named Sar2667, is just 1-meter wide, which means it poses no danger to Earth. by Remote_Combination14
WOW. I would have thought the Swiss/Italian Alps would have more dark spots.
Rain1dog t1_j8ev4tx wrote
Reply to comment by NeokratosRed in Hours to impact! A newly discovered asteroid will hit Earth's atmosphere near northern France on February 13 around 03:00 UTC (that's around 9 pm CST). Fortunately, the asteroid, named Sar2667, is just 1-meter wide, which means it poses no danger to Earth. by Remote_Combination14
I was just watching “Tokyo Lense” a YouTube channel about a guy who documents his life in Japan and this world is so incredibly beautiful. I wish I had infinite money in more than 80 years cause this little rock we’re on his quite sexy..
NeokratosRed t1_j8euv5l wrote
Reply to comment by Rain1dog in Hours to impact! A newly discovered asteroid will hit Earth's atmosphere near northern France on February 13 around 03:00 UTC (that's around 9 pm CST). Fortunately, the asteroid, named Sar2667, is just 1-meter wide, which means it poses no danger to Earth. by Remote_Combination14
You should visit it one day! The food is top notch, especially pizza and pastries
Ape_Togetha_Strong t1_j8g62jo wrote
Reply to comment by Andyman0110 in I saw something in the sky last night. help with ID? by Andyman0110
Look, you're not doing a great job of saying what exactly is confusing you, so I'm not sure where to start.
The earth spins. That means that all the things in the sky are always moving. The sun sets because the Earth spins. Stars also rise and set just like the sun. The angle they trace through the sky varies depending on where they lie on the celestial sphere. If you're really saying that you don't think it could be a star because you're under the impression that stars don't move below the horizon, then I can assure you they do.
It sounds to me like you saw a star twinkling near the horizon and then setting.