Anyone Know What This May Be?

[mimler]

I live in Pgh, PA. In late Sept and Oct. around 9PM+ EST we see a bright "twinkling" star"(?) appear on the NW horizon. I've been trying to identify it for some time.

 

[vogon13]

Iridium flash or deja vu.<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Check out the nearby WHAT THE ? thread.<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[markj_87]

What time would that be in Universal Time? And if the star is constantly there it can't be an iridium flare. They only last a few seconds.<br /><br />Arcturus 'sets' on the north-west horizon in the late evening but I would have thought this happen later than this. Arcturus does seem to twinkle a lot when near the horizon and it's also very bright. Perhaps it may be that?

 

[kmarinas86]

<i>According to Heavens-Above.com, what you saw was <b>not</b> an Iridium flare.</i><br /><br /><font color="yellow">http://www.heavens-above.com/iridium.asp?lat=40.441&lng=-79.996&alt=235&loc=Pittsburgh&TZ=EST&Dur=20&Date=38621.5287615741<br /><pre>Date Local Alt. Azimuth Satellite<br /> Time <br /> <br />26-Sep 19:33:59 54° <b>2° (N)</b> Iridium 96<br />27-Sep 5:19:19 45° 214° (SW) Iridium 45<br />27-Sep 7:01:57 48° 161° (SSE) Iridium 90<br />30-Sep 6:46:37 47° 168° (SSE) Iridium 31<br />30-Sep 21:12:30 16° <b>7° (N)</b> Iridium 34<br />1-Oct 6:40:36 46° 168° (SSE) Iridium 33<br />2-Oct 20:59:39 21° <b>9° (N)</b> Iridium 8</pre> </font>/safety_wrapper>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>I live in Pgh, PA. In late Sept and Oct. around 9PM+ EST we see a bright "twinkling" star"(?) appear on the NW horizon. I've been trying to identify it for some time.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />About how high is it in the sky? That will greatly limit the number of suspects.<br /><br />It is probably an actual star; as kmarinas has shown with that starmap, there aren't any major planets in that area of the sky at present. Bright stars commonly appear to twinkle when relatively near the horizon; how low they have to be is dependent on atmospheric conditions. Lots of rising hot air will increase the effect. Basically, the atmosphere acts like a lens, but a constantly fluctuating and unpredictable one.<br /><br />As you might imagine, this effect is very frustrating for astronomers, because it spoils a lot of their observations. Going to the top of a mountain helps, because the air is so much thinner, and dry desert air can also be helpful, although then you also have to contend with even more heat rising from the ground as the desert radiates back most of the heat it received during the day. Only space telescopes are immune to the effect, although sophisticated technologies such as adaptive optics and inferometry are able to eliminate most of the effect. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[kmarinas86]

<font color="yellow">I live in Pgh, PA. In late Sept and Oct. around 9PM+ EST we see a bright "twinkling" star"(?) appear on the NW horizon. I've been trying to identify it for some time.</font><br /><br />Was the twinkling random or regular (like that of an aircraft)?<br />Was the light moving with the stars or independent from them?<br />It was just one dot right? ("a" bright twinkling light) Note that around 9 PM, Venus should be on your Eastside, not your westside. Note that Sirius and Arcturus, the two brightest stars in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere are not visible at 9 PM Pittsburgh at September 30. They were below the horizon at the time.<br />Was it as bright as Venus?<br /><br />Your Sky<br /><br />Your Horizon

 

[mimler]

Right now it's 10pm EST. It's about 30 degrees (or less) above the horizon. Not too bright tonight because of cloud cover but normally you can see it quite clearly and it twinkles very brightly. Tonight there is another , much brighter star to its right, but this one doesn't twinkle at all. The first time I saw this star was 2 yrs ago in Artesia, NM at about the same time (9-10PM) every night. My sister was terminally ill and we used to sit outside and look at this same twinkling star. I have always been curious to find out about it every since.

 

[kmarinas86]

Vega perhaps (at WNW)... but there are no stars near it which are brighter than (i.e. <) magnitude +2.<br /><br />Your Sky<br /><br />Your Horizon<br /><br />Vega<br /><br /><font color="yellow">Tonight there is another, much brighter star to its right, but this one doesn't twinkle at all.</font>