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Thread: A little stargazing question

  1. #1

    Default A little stargazing question

    I was just walking the dog about an hour ago-he was restless so I walked him just in case, even though it was 1 AM, when something caught my eye. I'm normally not a stargazing person-I live in a small city, so light pollution makes it almost impossible...on a good night you can make out a handful of stars directly overhead. Which is why this was weird. It was static, so no plane...in fact it was brighter than those, and I see more of those at night than stars. About 20-30 degrees above horizon by my guess, almost due south, distinctly yellow and bright enough to be seen when apparently next to a streetlamp.

    Location-Czech Republic.

    So, someone knows what it was? Just curious.

  2. #2

    Default Re: A little stargazing question

    Quote Originally Posted by Sar1n View Post
    I was just walking the dog about an hour ago-he was restless so I walked him just in case, even though it was 1 AM, when something caught my eye. I'm normally not a stargazing person-I live in a small city, so light pollution makes it almost impossible...on a good night you can make out a handful of stars directly overhead. Which is why this was weird. It was static, so no plane...in fact it was brighter than those, and I see more of those at night than stars. About 20-30 degrees above horizon by my guess, almost due south, distinctly yellow and bright enough to be seen when apparently next to a streetlamp.

    Location-Czech Republic.

    So, someone knows what it was? Just curious.
    What direction, north, south, east or west?

    According to an online article from Astronomy magazine, Mars is supposed to be stunning all week, second only to Venus in brightness. It is risens around 10 pm local time and reaches 30 degrees by 2:30 am. So if it was in the south, I would say it is Mars.
    Last edited by Common Soldier; July 11, 2018 at 09:01 PM.

  3. #3

    Default Re: A little stargazing question

    Yeah, it was south. I've been looking at some charts too, thought it was Jupiter but according to some chart I looked at, it was supposed to be at or below the horizon at the time.

  4. #4
    Iskar's Avatar Insanity with Dignity
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    Default Re: A little stargazing question

    Sure it wasn't a geostationary satellite reflecting sunlight?
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  5. #5
    Big War Bird's Avatar Vicarius Provinciae
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    Default Re: A little stargazing question

    Attached is a southern view from Brno at 1am local time, July 11. You probably saw Mars, Saturn and Altair, all three would be fairly bright. Mars was 15 degrees above the horizon, Saturn and little higher, Altair about 50. If you say it was yellow, then you were looking at Mars which unaided is distinctly orange.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Capture brno2.PNG  
    Last edited by Big War Bird; July 17, 2018 at 08:12 PM.
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