Bright Star or planet in the West Tonight

[fekdemasons]

Heads up anyone who knows their planets and wotnot ,

I'm looking out to the west by norwest from my underground lair ...(puts finger in mouth)

Its low to the Horizon


I'm in SW London.

What is that bright star , And there is a secondary as well... I've seen these before a few days back in a similiar position..

Please please no uranus jokes >....

[diggers_1]

Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might.
It's just a satellite

[iaintoff]

you been drinking the tap water again fek

all's i can see up north is clouds

[fekdemasons]

Originally Posted by diggers_1

Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might.
It's just a satellite

Which Sattelite ?

And why is it still in perfect orbit with the other star ? Is it tracking it...

btw , I can't see it anymore but in 3 days it has move from just above number 51 s chimney , to just above No . 53 s

[danster82]

thats there every night, venus maybe its only visable star sometimes

[fekdemasons]

Originally Posted by iaintoff

you been drinking the tap water again fek

all's i can see up north is clouds

Its Venus and Mercury...

Stand down ...

http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk...sky/hz20.shtml

I was too lazy to google...

[amaralsright]

At 8.00pm this evening, Mercury AND Venus are very low and VERY close on the western horizon (from London).

Mars is high in the south and Saturn is low(ish) in the east.

I think you saw Venus.

[ex sheep]

Originally Posted by fekdemasons

btw , I can't see it anymore but in 3 days it has move from just above number 51 s chimney , to just above No . 53 s

That's easy it's the ecliptic apparent path of the celestial orbit appearing to move eastwards relative to the (almost) fixed stars is not perpendicular to the rotational axis of the Earth Ecliptic longitude, usually indicated with the letter λ, is measured from this point on 0° to 360° towards the east. Ecliptic latitude, usually indicated with the letter β is measured +90° to the north or -90° to the south. The same intersection point also defines the origin of the equatorial coordinate system, named right ascension measured from 0 to 24 hours also to the east and usually indicated with α or R.A., and declination, usually indicated with δ also measured +90° to the north or -90° to the south. phew!

[fekdemasons]

Originally Posted by amaralsright

At 8.00pm this evening, Mercury AND Venus are very low and VERY close on the western horizon (from London).

Mars is high in the south and Saturn is low(ish) in the east.

I think you saw Venus.

Yes mate ,

And Saturn a bit further North and a few billion light years further no doubt..

[fekdemasons]

Originally Posted by ex sheep

That's easy it's the ecliptic apparent path of the celestial orbit appearing to move eastwards relative to the (almost) fixed stars is not perpendicular to the rotational axis of the Earth Ecliptic longitude, usually indicated with the letter λ, is measured from this point on 0° to 360° towards the east. Ecliptic latitude, usually indicated with the letter β is measured +90° to the north or -90° to the south. The same intersection point also defines the origin of the equatorial coordinate system, named right ascension measured from 0 to 24 hours also to the east and usually indicated with α or R.A., and declination, usually indicated with δ also measured +90° to the north or -90° to the south. phew!

Swat I fort ...scratches head...

Its a pair a planets mate

[subl1minal]

I saw it the other night and thought WTF? and everyone said ''It's a satellite''

[magenta_moonshadow]

If it moved across the sky whilst you were watching it, it was a satellite...if not, it was Venus!

[griswald]

http://www.thenightskyguy.com/?p=2005

Apparently earths atmosphere will be affected by this, and may cause strange feelings to us mere mortals, and we may feel unwell during this time.
According to news bulletins by RTE.

griswald

[zetetic0void]

Yeah I would bet it is Venus. Venus and Mercury are close together now in the west after sunset.

Venus is always quite bright and people often start wondering what it is since it is brighter than Sirius and so looks very obvious in the night sky.


It is a good time to see Mercury as it doesn't get as high in the evening or morning sky )since it orbits closer to the Sun.


If you have binoculars and a steady thing to put them on (or even lean your arm against a sturdy tree while looking to steady your shaking hands) try looking at Venus and perhaps you may be able to see a crescent.

If you have a telescope, definately take a look./



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a great free astronomy software is Setellarium


www.stellarium.org



I actually like cybersky 4 quite a bit although it doesn't look as nice

http://www.cybersky.com/


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So you can often try to check what you see by plugging in the date and time ... planets move around (so Venus will be getting higher for quite a while now in the evening sky) with Venus and Mercury being the ones with the quickest cycles.... Jupiter and Saturn are quite slow as they have revolution periods of like 12 years for Jupiter and 30 years for Saturn

[zetetic0void]

opps... it appears that Venus is actually coming out from around the far side of the Sun now so it's phase would be like gibous not-quite-round rather than a crescent at present...eventually it would show as a cresent in many months

[kukulkola]

Don't think you're alone OP! I saw it too yesterday. Ya I believe the big one was Venus but ya there was a faint one behind Venus slightly under and to the right of Venus. I have never in my life seen a faint star low in the western sky! It was strange but ya the big one was Venus

[coco]

Venus and Mercury Alignment Thread

http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110703

[magenta_moonshadow]

Originally Posted by griswald

http://www.thenightskyguy.com/?p=2005

Apparently earths atmosphere will be affected by this, and may cause strange feelings to us mere mortals, and we may feel unwell during this time.
According to news bulletins by RTE.

What sort of news bulletin would resort to astrological claptrap regarding an astronomical event?

[griswald]

Originally Posted by magenta_moonshadow

What sort of news bulletin would resort to astrological claptrap regarding an astronomical event?

No idea.....contact them and ask them

griswald

[eternal wheel]

Originally Posted by fekdemasons

And Saturn a bit further North and a few billion light years further no doubt..

that'll be them chemtrails round it making it look further away than it is!

saturn is approx 1/7000th of a light year from earth.