What was the "flashing star" before dawn on Aug 13th?

[chadch]

I'm a complete amateur here, but had a question about something we observed this morning.

We live in central Texas. We were out between 5am and 6am this morning watching the Perseid Meteor Shower. At one point there was a bright light flashing. It was not visible most of the time. In otherwords, most of the time there was nothing there. It would flash orange 5 or 6 times then go dark again. The intensity of the light was not always the same, it seemed like the frequency of the flashes was not the same, and the object when visible was not moving (ie not an airplane). It did this process 2 or 3 times and then we never saw it again. We were facing NE and the object was between 15 and 30 degrees up from the horizon. When it was visible it was one of the brightest lights in the sky, but not quite as bright as Jupiter was at that time. To be clear, it was not twinkling... it was flashing on and off.

Any ideas on what this was?

 

[crazyeddie]

I'm a complete amateur here, but had a question about something we observed this morning.

We live in central Texas. We were out between 5am and 6am this morning watching the Perseid Meteor Shower. At one point there was a bright light flashing. It was not visible most of the time. In otherwords, most of the time there was nothing there. It would flash orange 5 or 6 times then go dark again. The intensity of the light was not always the same, it seemed like the frequency of the flashes was not the same, and the object when visible was not moving (ie not an airplane). It did this process 2 or 3 times and then we never saw it again. We were facing NE and the object was between 15 and 30 degrees up from the horizon. When it was visible it was one of the brightest lights in the sky, but not quite as bright as Jupiter was at that time. To be clear, it was not twinkling... it was flashing on and off.

Any ideas on what this was?

Whatever it was, it doesn't sound like an astronomical object of any kind. No natural object would behave this way.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Sounds like any of the bright stars in Orion (Betelgeuse, which is orangish) or Rigel, or even Sirius or Procyon, but the latter two rose just after 5:30 AM, depending on exactly where you are. Stars that low on the horizon will do more than just twinkle, they will actually flash off and on, depending on atmospheric conditions.

(At 5:30 AM in Abilene, Betelgeuse and Rigel were 20 degrees above the horizon, and Sirius and Procyon were just rising)

As for the disappearing, you have to consider distant clouds that can block the star. At such low elevations, clouds as far away as Nebraska, Iowa, or Missouri could block the it, and there's plenty of activity out that way.

Based on your orange description, my guess would be Betelgeuse. Typically the white stars like Rigel, Sirius, and Procyon will show more colors since the spectrum is not as biased toward red.

Meteor Wayne

 

[chadch]

Thanks y'all. I didn't even think about cloud cover. That could explain it. Probably a big cloud that wasn't letting the light through. Then at one point there were a few gaps in the cloud that moved past the star creating the flashing effect.

Thanks again!

 

[MeteorWayne]

Yeah, unless you look at the angles, it's hard to realize that clouds 400-600 miles away can block stars near the horizon.

 

[brandbll]

So am i right in assuming that same thing happens with satellites and what not? Because i saw a UFO last night(1:15 AM htis morning), which i now have determined was SAUDISAT 1C, and that sucker looked like it was blinking out of control.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Sat's flash for a different reason. It's usually a rocket body or sat that is spinning out of control. As they spin, different reflective surfaces align between the sun and your eye. That's different from stars near the horizon (that only move a degree every 4 minutes as they rise or set) where atmospheric refraction is the cause of the colors and twinkling/blinking.