1

I don’t have a telescope (which is sad)

Anyways…

Usually in the city, all stars are covered by the light pollution, and that’s my case.

I stare out my window every night, but yesterday night I saw something absurd. Usually stars are not visible through my window, with all the light pollution and mosquito netting.

the odd sighting

There was a orb, of some sort, circled in blue.

I thought it was a meteor, but it was moving too slowly for one. I thought it was a satellite, but it was moving southward. I thought it was an airplane, but the lights didn’t resemble one, since airplane lights blink (and have different colors). So I settled on the exploded star theory. But is it really?

Coder2195
  • 131
  • 6
  • 3
    Anything you see changing or moving from minute to minute is going to be in the atmosphere, or at least close to earth. A "new star" (nove or supernova) would move slowly east-to-west with other celestial objects. A bright object moving south is almost certainly an aircraft, although moving south does not by any means rule out a satellite. – antlersoft Jul 31 '21 at 14:25
  • It doesn’t look like one – Coder2195 Jul 31 '21 at 14:26
  • It took a long time for it to travel from one point to another @antlersoft – Coder2195 Jul 31 '21 at 14:33
  • If it was moving then it was a satellite or the ISS. Go to https://stellarium-web.org/ and click the clock at the lower right to open the time controls. Set the time to the date and exact time that you made the observation, and have a look to see if what you saw is shown. – Aaron F Jul 31 '21 at 19:19
  • It would probably help if you said where you were observing from, and what direction you were looking. – Dr Chuck Jul 31 '21 at 19:24
  • It’s probably Jupiter @AaronF – Coder2195 Jul 31 '21 at 19:28
  • @Coder2195 quite likely, yes :) Jupiter and Saturn are both up during the night at the moment, and are both pretty bright. If you have a pair of binoculars you'll be able to see the four brightest moons of Jupiter through them – Aaron F Jul 31 '21 at 19:36
  • 1
    If i see it again tonight then it’s confirmed @Aaran F – Coder2195 Jul 31 '21 at 20:10
  • See https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/38821/did-i-see-a-supernova-explosion, But I agree that this is probably a planet. – James K Jul 31 '21 at 21:51
  • Interesting question! How slowly was it moving? Stars and planets move about 15 degrees per hour. Another point; if an airplane has recently taken off or is on approach, they usually turn on bright "headlights" (landing lights) which appear yellow or white and are bright and steady. Is there an airport in that direction? – uhoh Jul 31 '21 at 22:02
  • You'll see it again if it's a planet and if the sky is clear! :-) I think the best way to judge if it could be a planet is to use an online planetarium like the one atin-the-sky.org It automatically chooses your approximate location and time zone, then you can adjust the time and date (open the "change time" box) to match your photograph to see if there's a planet in the right direction and elevation above the horizon. Here's Venus low in the west at 8 PM from NYC https://i.stack.imgur.com/6feAJ.png – uhoh Jul 31 '21 at 22:27
  • 1
    Confirmed it’s Jupiter – Coder2195 Aug 01 '21 at 13:00
  • @Coder2195 glad you solved the mystery! You can write an answer, if you want to, and then mark it as the accepted answer. You'll get a few points, and you might help out anyone in the future who sees something in the sky that they're unsure of :) – Aaron F Aug 01 '21 at 22:38

1 Answers1

2

enter image description hereJupiter it is (moved from comment)

Coder2195
  • 131
  • 6