star like object that move in different directions ??

auzworld

Happened to observe what i thought was a shooting star... but it stopped and changed direction then stopped again , slowely moved again then sat there in the night sky until i went back in ... you could not tell the difference in it being a star .... very weird. happened o the 7th of nov now.... but did nyone ever see something like this before.

Popoutman

Most likely an aircraft of some type such a chopper..

Rubecula

Seen this many many times. It has always been a helicopter in the distance either with a search light on or a landing light/high conspicuity light. Usually modern helicopters are hard to hear after a certain distance, their noise fades rapidly over distance so it could seem to be a silently moving bright light. Over a few miles this can look very 'star like'

Nightly occurance where I live.

zenno

Popoutman wrote: »

Most likely an aircraft of some type such a chopper..

I never thought an aircraft or chopper looked like a star ?. that's a strange answer.

cocoshovel

Where do you live? What direction was the light? and how high did it seem to be up? Like, was it the exact same size as a star or slightly bigger looking?

Captain Chaos

zenno wrote: »

I never thought an aircraft or chopper looked like a star ?. that's a strange answer.

It's not a strange answer at all. Alot of people cannot properly ID aircraft and choppers at night from stars.

When you see aircraft on landing pattern around Howth at night, they all look like very bright stars following each other and turning into line. You cannot see their green and red marker lights until they get within a a few miles.

On clear nights you can see very high flying aircraft at around 30,000ft and they look like faint fast moving starts.

auzworld

Nope ... It defo did not look like a plane or heli ( no noise either) ..... it was way way up there..(like in orbit up there) . really ... you could not tell it from other stars once stopped...No bigger than any other star in the sky . was in the walkinstown area...
then I remember waking up in a field ( << only kidding on this part)

Popoutman

Perfect description of a distant helicopter. Only the main anti-collision lights visible, no noise and little movement. You generally won't hear a helicopter that's more than about 2 miles away depending on the weather conditions and the wind directon, and it can be at an altitude that would make it appear high in the sky. Without optical assistance it is very hard to make out whatever it is. Our expectations of what we would think a helicopter at night looks like are often very very different to what they actually are.
People without experience in watching planes or helicopters at night have no references to compare what they see to what is actually going on.
The only other simple explanation is a plane on departure. If a plane is just after taking off and gaining altitude while flying away from you, it can appear to stay in the same spot in the sky as it gets more distant.
You have to remember that when looking at a light in the sky, you cannot easily say how far away it is. Is it bright and far away, or dim and near? Is the brightness changing because the plane is moving on a curved path and the beam is moving towards or away from you? Our brains are just not wired to make these choices, so we tend to make wrong choices and we stick to what those choices are. People are generally unwilling to accept rational explanations as the explanation may not mesh with that person's expectation or rationalisation of what was seen.

Where I live, Shannon airport is ~20km away and I can see the approach path from the southwest to the runway easily enough, and the east to the runway for most of the approach. It's weird seeing cigar-shaped objects drift silently along over Woodcock Hill until you realise that it's a plane being seen from the side, 15kms away. At night (depending on the approach path required) I have seen planes on approach not move at all in the sky (coming towards me and descending at the same time) then veering off as they intersect the glide path to the runway.

Cú Giobach

Popoutman wrote: »

At night (depending on the approach path required) I have seen planes on approach not move at all in the sky (coming towards me and descending at the same time) then veering off as they intersect the glide path to the runway.

Loads of vids on youtube showing that, with people getting all excited, "Omg!! Look at that...it's not moving.... EEK, it's speeding up and moving off Wow!!.....Arrgg..now it's flashing....Save us!!!!"

Zubeneschamali

auzworld wrote: »

(like in orbit up there)

There is nothing which can be in orbit and also changing direction like that. Even the Space Shuttle always looked to be travelling in an absolutely straight line across the heavens when in orbit.

Tomk1

There's a useful ipad app for tracking planes realtime, gives height/speed/id/destination unsure if it does light aircraft.

Maybe the OP should keep an eyeout durning the daylight, prob need binoculars, as distant aircraft can be difficult to see against a bright/hazy sky, if you spot the object then it's easy to get a relative perspective of it's movement wrt the ground.