Seeing a star during the day

[zamees]

Yesterday, it appeared as if I saw a bright star very close to the sun. Is this possible? Or was I just watching a very slow moving airplane, or just seeing things. Ive been looking around for any info on this, but have yet to find any.

 

[rhodan]

At about what time of the day did you see this?

 

[jindivik]

don't know what it could have been but if it was very close i doubt it would have ben a star because of the sun being too bright

 

[jindivik]

"Only at the last few minutes of sunset is the Sun fairly safe to look directly at - and not always then."<br /><br />off topic i know sorry, but how come the sun us a lot brighter during sunrise than it is at sunset? does it have something to do with air temperatures being warmer at sunset than sunrise from the warming throughout the day?

 

[zamees]

It was about 7:20 pm, so getting towards the end of the day. Was very very still, so hard to say its an airplane. I thought it may have been a hidden comet headed our way.

 

[silylene old]

<font color="yellow">or (near twilight) Jupiter or Mars. </font><br /><br />You can see Venus and Jupiter in full daylight on a very clear day, if you look in <i>exactly</i> the right place. Even looking in the right place, at first it's just hard to find, because the contrast against the bright sky is subtle and your eye-focus might not be at infinity. I used to do this for fun, when I was in HS. Once you do find Jupiter, it's surprising and then rather obvious.<br /><br />I never tried with Mars, Saturn or Mercury. I assume these would be significantly harder and maybe impossible. By the way, there was an article in S&T about this subject about 6 months ago. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[igorsboss]

<font color="yellow">how come the sun us a lot brighter during sunrise than it is at sunset?</font><br /><br />One thing's for sure, it's not Sol that's changing. The effect must be atmospheric.<br /><br />Depending on where you live, it could be that people don't tend to use their cars in the early morning hours before sunrise as much as they do in the evening hours before sunset. Smog is heavier in the evening, but clears out by morning.

 

[nexium]

With the right flight path sunlight reflected off an airplane can appear to be coming from a stationary object. Also some pilots turn on their landing lights several minutes before landing. Some types of aircraft have very bright landing lights. Again the right flight path makes the object appear to be stationary. Neil

 

[MBA_UIU]

It could have been a Sun Dog. Take a look here and see if this was it.<br />http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/ice/sd.rxml<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font color="#0000ff"><br /><br /> <br /><img id="268587ce-7170-4b41-a87b-8cd443f9351a" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/6/8/268587ce-7170-4b41-a87b-8cd443f9351a.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" /><br /></font></strong></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>It could have been a Sun Dog. Take a look here and see if this was it. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Another good website for that is Atmospheric Optics. Check out the section on "Ice Halos" -- that's where you'll find things like sundogs (under Frequent Halos).<br /><br />Sundogs, also called parhelia or false suns, are glowing patches in the sky directly left or right of the Sun. The most common kind occur on the 22 degree halo, which means they're 22 degrees away from the Sun. That may be too far away to explain your sighting. They're also generally not point sources; they're bright blobs, not bright dots. But they're very pretty. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <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>