What the?

[jacknance26]

I'm looking at the south eastern sky in denver colorado, and i'm seeing a crescent shaped multi-colored object that appears to be flashing (i'm using a MEADE MA25mm lense, small in power but still i can see this thing pretty clearly). it is just to the bottom left of orion and to the lower right of the moon (at approx. 9:00pm MST). It is very bright and visible with the naked eye, and appears to be "twinkling" as I've been told planets do not. It's distance from two bottom most prevelent stars of orion (almost in a straight line from) has remained constant through the evening as well. What is this thing?

 

[MeteorWayne]

It's position below the bottom left and most of the rest of the description identifies it as the brightest star in the sky, Sirius.<br /><br />Heres a map of that area of the sky showing Orion and Sirius.<br /><br />The fact that you see it as a crescent indicates you may have an alignment problem with your scope. Is it a reflector? If so, have you collimated it recently? <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>

 

[jacknance26]

It is a reflector, the alignment is a-ok though...

 

[MeteorWayne]

If you're seeing a star as crescent shaped, something's not right. <br />Perhaps it's just the scope hadn't cooled down enough at the time you looked. <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>

 

[jacknance26]

Last night was the first time i pulled the telescope out in a few months, so i will take another look this evening and make sure everything is fine with the scope. The image was about a third of a circle and only the slightest sliver could be seen. The odd part were the colors i was seeing coming off of the object. With my naked eye i could see red and blue and white "twinkling", which made me think it was a police helicopter (though i'm pretty sure they don't have any sirens on those suckers and it seemed to keep orbit with the rest of the sky) so that's what promted me to take a closer look. Through the scope i was still able to see those colors. I've heard that Jupiter with let out a "red flash" every minute or so from the large storm on it's surface, but the colors i saw were flashing at a much faster rate of around 1/4 second. I will also get a better location, as i do not believe it was the location of Sirius that i was looking at. I believe it was closer to 135/35 degrees on the chart you posted.

 

[MeteorWayne]

I bet when you check it will turn out to be Sirius or Procyon.<br /><br />I'm trying to find a link in a recent discussion for the explanation of the colored flashing. I could do it, but it's been done very well by others, so I'll be back.<br /><br />Here it is, from a recent thread on the same subject.<br />It occurs pretty regularly as bright stars (Sirius, Procyon, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Vega, Capella) start to appear in the evening and people notice them through a lot of atmosphere.<br /><br /><font color="orange"> From Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy: <br /><br />Twinkle Twinkle Little Star <br />Week of August 23, 1999 <br />It's semi-common knowledge that stars twinkle and planets don't. By semi-common, I mean that a lot of folks know that, but I also mean it isn't strictly true. <br /><br />Stars twinkle because we see them from the bottom of a sea of air. Little cells of air, which are about ten centimeters across and located many kilometers high, move across our vision as we watch the sky. These small bundles of air act like little lenses, bending light as it passes through them. This bending, called refraction, is familiar to anyone who drives on a hot day: hot air just above the road surface bends light more than the cooler air slightly above it. That's why you can sometimes see that shimmery veil of what looks like water on the road; it's really the air bending the light above it. Sometimes you can even see cars reflected in the road! <br /><br />Anyway, these parcels of air up high in the atmosphere travel to and fro, bending the light from a star in more or less random directions. Stars are big, but they are so far away that they appear to be very small, much smaller to our eyes than each of these air bundles. So when the light gets bent, the apparent movement of the star is larger than the size of the star in the sky, and we see the star shifting around. Our eye can't really detect that motion, because it's too small. What we see is the light from the star flickering. That's</font> <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>

 

[weeman]

Welcome to SDC fellow Denverite! It's quite a clear crisp night, certainly an ideal night for viewing the moon! If only I had my telescope with me. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[jacknance26]

Thanks weeman, it's good to be here. I wasn't able to take another look at my object last night due to clouds, but after reading the information you put up MeteorWayne, i think it's pretty clear i was looking at Sirius, and what a site it was. I still need to take a look at my scope and make sure everything is a-ok on it though...

 

[witgenestone]

That's a shame. I was hoping for an alien invasion!

 

[weeman]

If you're having troubles with your scope, there is a telescope store on Broadway and Belleview called S&S Optika. They are really nice there, and they do any repairs and fine tuning <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>