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What's the bright thing I see during commute?

  • 12-11-2018 12:26am
    #1
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,951 ✭✭✭✭


    I see a very bright star/planet/something in the SW sky each morning of my commute, even when no others are visible.

    Really stands out. Kinda looks like it's flickering too.

    Curious as to what I'm looking at?


Comments

  • #2
    mikhail
    Registered Users Posts: 3,863 ✭✭✭mikhail


    I don't know a lot about this sort of thing, but there are app (e.g. Star Chart) that can tell you what you're looking at.

    In case anyone else thinks to guess Venus, it seems not.


  • #3
    ps200306
    Registered Users Posts: 1,589 ✭✭✭ps200306


    It's Sirius. It's a southern hemisphere star so only gets about 20 degrees above the horizon from Ireland. At the moment that happens at 3.45am but will be getting earlier as winter progresses. Right now it's above 10 degrees until 6.45am in the south west. Stars flicker because their great distance makes them point like sources which are prone to being refracted away from your line of sight by Earth's atmosphere, especially at low altitude / high air mass. Very bright stars like Sirius may also appear to flash different colours. Sirius is the brightest star in the entire sky. It's intrinsically bright -- more than 20 times brighter than the Sun -- but it's also nearby, being the second closest naked eye star to us.


  • #4
    mickmackey1
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,288 ✭✭✭mickmackey1


    The journey around the horizon is quite an amazing sight at 7am these days... Sirius dazzling in the SW, Venus in the SE and Vega to the NE.


  • #5
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,951 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    Thanks for the replies, so Sirius it is then.

    Yeah it does appear to be changing colour slightly too. Its a beautiful sight on a crisp, clear morning at 630am.


  • #6
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    Venus is also really bright in the se/s in the mornings, and is definitely about 10 times brighter than Sirius.


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  • #7
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,951 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    Popoutman wrote: »
    Venus is also really bright in the se/s in the mornings, and is definitely about 10 times brighter than Sirius.

    Wonder was that Venus I just seen on way home?

    At first it was dark and I thought it was a distant plane approaching as it looked like lights.

    I can even see it now in the morning sky, it's still standing out, although not as much as it was half an hour ago

    Some pictures I took, bear in mind it was with a rubbish camera phone, looked much better with the eye!

    https://flic.kr/p/2adwDum

    https://flic.kr/p/2bApken

    https://flic.kr/p/2bApmwn


  • #8
    ps200306
    Registered Users Posts: 1,589 ✭✭✭ps200306


    Yes, that was Venus. It's more than a dozen times brighter than Sirius. I presume that's sunrise glow in the south east below it ... from your posting time it's still before sunrise. Amazing thing is, if you keep your eye on it constantly you can still see it after sunrise, in broad daylight.


  • #9
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,951 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    ps200306 wrote: »
    Yes, that was Venus. It's more than a dozen times brighter than Sirius. I presume that's sunrise glow in the south east below it ... from your posting time it's still before sunrise. Amazing thing is, if you keep your eye on it constantly you can still see it after sunrise, in broad daylight.

    Yeah, you'll notice I said that I could still see it in my last post.

    By that time I was home and standing in daylight and it was still very noticeable in the sky.


  • #10
    ps200306
    Registered Users Posts: 1,589 ✭✭✭ps200306


    NIMAN wrote: »
    Yeah, you'll notice I said that I could still see it in my last post.

    By that time I was home and standing in daylight and it was still very noticeable in the sky.
    Except it wasn't daylight. Unless you're located somewhere east of the Irish sea, or the server time on boards.ie was temporarily wrong, it was still twilight.


  • #11
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    I've definitely followed both Venus and Jupiter to naked-eye visibility after sunrise. Venus is fairly easy once you have something to mark the location in the sky, e.g. watching the planet near a tree from a chair. Jupiter was a *lot* harder and I've only managed it the once on a crystal clear cold morning.


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  • #12
    ps200306
    Registered Users Posts: 1,589 ✭✭✭ps200306


    Agree about needing a marker. It's kind of maddening how, once you lose it, it's gone. Same as when you pick up Venus for the first time during evening twilight -- you can always tell it was bright enough to see earlier than you did, and can't understand how it just "popped out".


  • #13
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,951 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    Saw it yesterday morning on my way home from work right beside a lovely crescent moon.

    Beautiful.


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