Another "What was it?" Thread...

[heyscottie]

I was in Albuquerque on Thursday, September 13. Just after sunset, but before twilight really had set in (maybe about 7:30 local time), I and my friends observed a bright object in the sky slightly north of west and maybe about 15 degrees up from the horizon. My friend said it was Venus, but it seemed too far above the plane of the ecliptic to be Venus, and it actually seemed much too bright to be Venus, especially when so much sunlight persisted. Knowing this, I told him I thought it was an airplane flying along toward us.<br /><br />Unfortnately, I don't think I could have been right, as it appeared to be stationary over at least a 10 minute period, at which point I went inside and did not see it again.<br /><br />I have since checked heavens-above to see if there was anything in the region, but there really was nothing. Venus would have set by this time, and Jupiter is much further to the south and not nearly as bright.<br /><br />It can't have been a geosynchonous satellite, as they would appear to the south.<br /><br />Any ideas? Albuquerque IS famous for hot-air balloons, but I'm not sure how one could give the bright glint that would be required...

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well the only candidate star in the area was Arcturus, about 40 degrees up, due west (0 magnitude).<br />Just south of west was the thin crescent moon, with Mercury (Mag -0.1) a few degrees to the right, but they were only about 7 degrees above the horizon. Most likely the sky was still way too bright to notice them<br /><br />So my first instinct is that you were probably right about and aircraft. With the sun not even 4 degrees below the horizon, a reflection could be quite bright, and aircraft on approach can appear very near the same position in the sky for many minutes.<br /><br />That's about all I've got in my tank <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br />Unless it was a silver hot air balloon, that also seems rather unlikely.<br /><br />MW <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[heyscottie]

Yeah, I thought about the crescent moon, but it really wasn't in the right place -- too far from the ecliptic, for one. And it was certainly brighter than any star. I tried to find Jupiter at the same time to point it out but could not.<br /><br />So I guess I'll have to stick with aircraft, unless somebody comes up with a better idea...

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well, you could always ask that the thread be moved to Phenomena and see what turns up there <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[heyscottie]

I'm sure I'd get a lot more responses!