Question for you sky watchers

This Guy

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This Guy
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OK, I put UFO in the tags, only because I haven't identified what I saw. Not because I suspect it's controlled by little green men ;)

Last night I was out back, and looked up at the night sky. There was a very bright object up there. It was between West and South West, nearer to being West.

Later it (or something about as bright) appeared to be more toward the south.

Both times (a few hours apart) I watched the object for several minutes, and could not detect any apparent motion. I live near a big airport, so I see a lot of planes and such, but while this was as bright as an approaching airplane's lights might be, I believe I watched it long enough that it should have changed it's direction from me, or changed size if heading toward me. I noticed no change.

I tried checking some web sites, using Google, but really didn't find anything that helped me narrow it down. My thought is that it might be Venus or one of the planets.

Anyone know what I might have seen? I live in Middle Tennessee/About 36°N Lat./86°W Lon.
 
It was probably the ISS. I watched it last night between 9:11 and 9:14 ET. Like you say, it started WSW -- but it moved towards the NE pretty quickly. I live in D.C., and it was very bright, reaching a peak mag of -.3. Maybe you saw something later and just assumed it was the same thing? Or I could be completely wrong... :)
 
Buckaroo said:
It was probably the ISS. I watched it last night between 9:11 and 9:14 ET. Like you say, it started WSW -- but it moved towards the NE pretty quickly. I live in D.C., and it was very bright, reaching a peak mag of -.3. Maybe you saw something later and just assumed it was the same thing? Or I could be completely wrong... :)
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That might be it. It is certainly possible that the two sightings were different objects.

I think it's safe to assume at lest one (if not both) were the ISS. My directions could be off a bit also. I was using Map quest to determine the directions, and I could easily have screwed up.

Thanks for the input! I've never knowing spotted the ISS, though I have read that it is visible when overhead. :)
 
I don't think it could have been the ISS. It goes from horizon to horizon in about 10 minutes if you spot it rising. It's apparent motion is very obvious accross the sky.
 
Molinaro said:
I don't think it could have been the ISS. It goes from horizon to horizon in about 10 minutes if you spot it rising. It's apparent motion is very obvious accross the sky.
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Hmmmm...

Wish I had recorded the times I saw whatever I saw. It was while I was outside soothing my nicotine cravings, and I know the sightings were at least two or three hours apart, because that's about how often I smoke when I'm diddling about (it's longer when I'm actually "doing" something).

I believe the first sighting was around 2130-2200. The second, I believe was around 0200 this AM. Though it is possible the first sighting was earlier. I went to the store around the 2200 time, and it may have been before that, possibly around 2000 or so, which would be in the ball park of Buckaroo's sighting of the ISS. Buckaroo is in the Eastern time zone, I'm central.

It's really not important of course, I'm just curious as to what it was. Next time something like this happens, I'll try to take notes. When I saw the first "thing" I thought it must be one of the planets or something. It was certainly far brighter than any of the stars I could see. I just shrugged it off at the time. Then when I saw something very similar, but what appeared to be further to the south, I started wondering about it.

Would it be possible that the ISS could have been visible two times during the night, from my area?

Perhaps that is what it was, and my perception of how long I watched is off. It takes me about two minutes to finish off a smoke. But I couldn't swear to how long I had been out at either time before I noticed whatever I saw.

But, I wasn't drinking, and there was SOMETHING up there, and it was bright :)
 
Buckaroo said:
If you're interested in watching man-made objects in orbit, have a look at www.heavens-above.com. It's got a schedule for all the good ones, based on your location.
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I'm mildly interested. I've actually considered buying a good set of binoculars mostly just to have something handy to look at the more visible objects (and watch my neighbors undress;)).

Thanks for the link!
 
This Guy said:
I'm mildly interested. I've actually considered buying a good set of binoculars mostly just to have something handy to look at the more visible objects (and watch my neighbors undress;)).

Thanks for the link!
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No problem! After reading Gord's hypothesis, I'm now leaning towards Saturn (I don't think Jupiter was in the area) being the culprit, which occupied pretty much the same patch of sky as the ISS when it began its transit. I doubt you would have seen the ISS twice, because as Molinaro says, it really books across the sky, and is easily mistaken for a plane, if you don't know what you're looking at.
 
Definitely not the ISS--you can easily see it moving, and it would move to the east.

What time was it? Jupiter is a very late night object right now--not in the west until the wee hours of the morning. If it was earlier in the evening, Venus is amazingly bright in the west/southwest sky these days. Saturn is near (will be very close to Venus next month), but is much smaller, much dimmer and visibly orange--Venus looks bright white.

Edit: sorry, I missed that you gave the time in a subsequent post. I'm quite sure you saw Venus. Watch again tonight, and you'll see for sure. If you can visualize the ecliptic, go a little west from bright Venus and you'll see a small orange "star" which is Saturn. Way over in the east, you'll see bright yellow/white Jupiter.

Edit: I'm in St. Louis, so what I see is very similar to what you'll see in Tenn.
 
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Actually, the Venus-Saturn conjunction is sooner than I was thinking. On June 30th, they will be 0.7 degrees apart, which is as close as they'll get this time.
 
My guess would be Venus. It's freakishly big sometimes.
 
For Buckaroo, and JoeTheJuggler,

The times between sightings could possibly allow for two different planets. The first sighting could have been around 2000/8:00 PM Central, and the last around 0200/2:00 AM Central. That's a possible 6 hour span, and is ball park. Could have been a bit more or less.

I'll try to check tonight, and see what I see. I'll take notes, and try to be more sure about the directions. I'm guessing if it was planets they should show up in about the same areas at about the same times tonight. That sound correct?

Thanks to all for the input. I feel kinda bad taking your time on such a silly thing. Again, it's not important, but I am curious. :)

ETA: Response to Joe's edit :)

Cool. Thanks.
 
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This Guy said:
I believe the first sighting was around 2130-2200.
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In the west, that's definitely Venus. It's the second-brightest object in the night sky (behind the the Moon).

The second, I believe was around 0200 this AM.
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That'd be Jupiter. It's the next-brightest visible planet behind Venus.

Would it be possible that the ISS could have been visible two times during the night, from my area?

Perhaps that is what it was, and my perception of how long I watched is off. It takes me about two minutes to finish off a smoke.
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Bear in mind the ISS is orbiting the Earth at some 18,000 mph. In the space of even two minutes you'd see it noticeably moving in the sky in relation to other objects.

Here's a guide to what's going on this week (scroll down to the Planet Roundup); here's another highlighting June objects.

You can also use this interactive sky chart -- that'll help you get a handle on what you're seeing.
 
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This Guy said:
I'll try to check tonight, and see what I see. I'll take notes, and try to be more sure about the directions. I'm guessing if it was planets they should show up in about the same areas at about the same times tonight. That sound correct?
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Yep. :)
 
This Guy said:
I live near a big airport...
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I'm guessing that you may have been watching aircraft on approach to the large airport near your location. If they are on approach to a runway near you it might look (for a few minutes at least) like it is relatively motionless. But planets are a probable explanation too.
 
Foster Zygote said:
I'm guessing that you may have been watching aircraft on approach to the large airport near your location. If they are on approach to a runway near you it might look (for a few minutes at least) like it is relatively motionless. But planets are a probable explanation too.
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I'm pretty sure it wasn't a plane. It's possible I could be wrong, but I've seen many planes come in, and I'm pretty sure that's not what I saw last night :)
 
Sounds about right--Venus early and Jupiter 6 hours later. They're both bright and more or less white.
 
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