Are you Sirius???

[fatal291]

Hello, I am from Richmond VA, Coordinates Latitude: 37° 32' North <br />Longitude: 77° 28' West . I am posting (again) to see if anyone can tell me if it is Sirius I'm seeing in the sky. It is the brightest object in the sky right now. When the moon is out, the blinking object stands out just as much because of the glitter. I've lived by the RIA all my life and I'm used to seeing planes in the sky at night and this is exactly what it looks like only its in the same section every night (when it's not cloudy.) Usually starting at 1AM. Is this Sirius? Can someone take a snap shot of it? It is pretty amazing i can see it turning the blue, green, red all of this with my eye alone. I do not ever recall seeing this in the sky before. I did move homes though, could this be why or is it just the normal seasonal tilting? (Also is Sirius the "North Star?" thanks.

 

[PistolPete]

I believe that what you are seeing may be Sirius.<br /><br />[checks Starry Night...]<br /><br />Yup, it's probably Sirius. Right now Sirius is only seen during the early, pre-dawn, morning hours. As seen in the sky, Sirius appears "below" Orion.<br /><br />To answer your second question, no, Sirius is not the North Star. Polaris is the North Star. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. Don't feel stupid, it is actually a common "rookie" mistake. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> Often times importance is confused with brightness by people new to the field of astronomy. Polaris isn't even close to being the brightest star in the sky. The reason that Polaris is important is that it is the closest star to the Celestial North Pole, a point around which all stars appear to rotate in the night sky. It is useful for navigation because its location is the same as true north. Also, how high it appears in the night sky, depending on your latitude, was used by ancient Greek astronomers to figure out a rough figure for the circumference of the Earth some 3,000 years ago. (It is a myth that Marco Polo or Christopher Columbus discovered that the world was round. That fact was known for millenia beforehand.) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>

 

[PistolPete]

Actually, he said that the star he was looking at rises at about 1:00 AM. This is true for Sirius right now. Venus doesn't rise till about 3:00 AM. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>

 

[fatal291]

yeah its def 1am, and its blinking.. looks like airplane lights from here or somethig pulsating. i only assume it is sirius because others have suggested it was.

 

[MeteorWayne]

I don't know, but here are the facts.<br /><br />The brightest object in the east at 1AM in Richmond, VA is Rigel, on the right side of Orion at Magnitude + 0.2.<br />At that time it is 14 degrees above the horizon.<br /><br /><br />Procyon, to the left of Orion (Mag + 0.4) rises at 1:29.<br /><br />Sirius (Mag -1.44) rises at 1:44 AM<br /><br />Venus (Mag -4.5) rises at 3:37 AM.<br /><br />All those times assume a flat horizon, if there are trees or hills to the east, the time will be later.<br /><br />So if it's really 1 AM, it would have to be Rigel.<br />It too is quite spectacular when low to the horizon, flashing quite brilliantly.<br /><br />Now that the posted pictures are turned back on, I'll see if I can find the image I made of this part of the sky during a previous iteration of the<br />"flashing bright objects" questions. <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>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Here is a link to one of the images I'm speaking of. <br /><br />This is from last year, so doesn't show Mars near Gemini's foot, but shows the stars I'm speaking of. <br /><br />Rigel is the Blue/white star on the right of Orion, Sirius near the bottom, Procyon on the left.<br /><br />I know there's another image with the stars labelled. I'll find it later.<br /><br />Wayne <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>

 

[PistolPete]

I think I may have figured it out. Here's the lat/long you put into Heavens-Above: 37.6835°N, <font color="yellow"><b>771</b></font>/b>.2109°W<br /><br />I didn't know there was a 771° W longitude. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>

 

[fatal291]

ok well everyone tune in tonight to help me out please

 

[MeteorWayne]

I already definitively answered your questions, specific to your location.<br /><br />If you choose not to believe it....well I tried. <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>

 

[alokmohan]

It is rigel then?Can you find where is magha nakshtra of indian nomenclature.

 

[fatal291]

i dont know how to read those maps lol thats why im asking on here..

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well the maps are the best way to describe the sky.<br /><br />All the dots are stars.<br /><br />Orion is an easily recognizable, bright, large constellation with a distinctive shape. If you can't recognize it, then a million words won't help.<br /><br />"A picture is wortha thousand words"<br /><br /> <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>

 

[fatal291]

well I have tried to look for Orion in the sky myself but to do a HUGE amount of light pollution (i live in a complex style house) it was a little too hard. I did however look this up online and It says constellation Orion is not usually visable until the Winter..

 

[MeteorWayne]

It is visible in winter in the evening. It has been visible in the early morning hours for a few months now; I know since I see it every morning I am meteor observing <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />I gave you the time Rigel rises. The other bright star, Betelgeuse (kind of reddish) rises earlier.<br /><br />Wayne <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>

 

[MeteorWayne]

<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>

 

[fatal291]

Well with the help of you guys, and some software (my computer was in the shop) I was able to come to the conclusion that it is indeed Sirius. As i stated the star seemed the be below the other 3 stars, here Rigal seems to be beside them. If u had not have named it i would not have understood any of this so thank you MeteorWayne! Just to give you guys an idea how bright this thing is (currently 4am) I took a few photos, this is the clearest.<br /><br />http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/illmatic291/HPIM1511.jpg<br /><br />http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/illmatic291/HPIM1506.jpg<br /><br /><br />Notice even with the light pollution you can still see it. It outshines the local radio tower on the lower left! The amazing part is i took the pics with the HP Photosmart M525, its only 6 Mega Pixels with 6.0mm-18.0mm! I could imagine how cool it would be if i had a telescope and zooming in.<br /><br /><br />If someone could take clearer pics it would be nice, here is also more detailed information. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br />Standard time zone: UTC/GMT -5 hours<br />Daylight saving time: +1 hour<br />Current time zone offset: UTC/GMT -4 hours<br />Time zone abbreviation: EDT - Eastern Daylight Time<br /> <br /><br />location of Richmond, VA<br />Latitude: 37° 32' North <br />Longitude: 77° 28' West <br />Elevation: 150 ft (45.7 m)

 

[3488]

I fail to see what the mystery is.<br /><br />MeteorWayne has already said that it was the blue supergiant star Rigel / Beta Orionis.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well apparently it wasn't he must have estimated the time incorrectly since Sirius wasn't up at the time he said.<br /><br />It's tough when you're first learning your way around the sky.<br />FAtal 291, at least now you know what Orion looks like, right?<br /><br />Now we can teach you some more <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>

 

[mindmute]

Andrew,<br />You are the most knowledgeable person i know on the star Sirius. And i have unbound respect for your knowledge.<br />However, The picture sure looks like Sirius to me. <br />I have to presume then that the coordinates indicated by the novice must be in error.<br /><br /><br />

 

[MeteorWayne]

Or the time. As I said (I think) Sirius was not above the horizon at that time.<br /><br />It's very hard to see a star when you must look through the surface of the earth to see it. <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>

 

[alokmohan]

Generally so.