very bright object in the sky

Gardoggle

Hi folks,

I'm not a regular poster here so please excuse me if I'm doing something out of line..

I can see a very bright object in the sky, looks like a star but it has something different about it (no its not the moon!!). where the other stars 'twinkle' this one seems to be bigger and has longer 'rays' coming out of it, I dont think its the north star, could someone have a look and let us (my family are all gawping out at it) know what it is please?!

This is not a piss-take.

Are were expecting something extra visible in the sky at this time of year..?
Thanks,
G.

Shy_Dave!

Meant to be a large amount of shooting stars tonight and tomorrow night I believe.

Prenderb

Could it be Jupiter? It's quite bright tonight, in the east, fairly near the horizon.

Gardoggle

the object is a good bit higher than the horizon, reckon its towards south-east..

Captain Chaos

It's Jupiter in the East, it's been rising earlier for the past 2 months or so. I used to see it rise at around 4am back in late June. Now we can see it from about 11pm.

colwood

I see it every night too. It passes from east to west well above the horizion. It's dawn right now and as the sun comes up it's still clearly visable. So is it jupiter and if so does it come so close all the time or only in certain years?

rccaulfield

Thatd be Jupiter, its a whopper these days!!! south to south east!

Cú Giobach

This is defiantly Jupiter and it is visible every year. It's so bright not because its close but because it's so big. 142,984 kms across.

This is its size compared to Earth (ignore the comments on picture).
It ranges in its distance from Earth from between 893 million km at its closest to 964 million km at its furthest.
Viewed through even a small pair of binoculars it is quite spectacular, with its 4 largest (out of at least 63) moons clearly visible.

Info from Universe Today.

Ilyushin76

It could be the sun.This would appear as a very bright object in the sky and you should not look directly at the sun so be careful .

Cú Giobach

John85 wrote: »

It could be the sun.This would appear as a very bright object in the sky and you should not look directly at the sun so be careful .

Since Jupiter is made of the same stuff as the Sun and if you jammed 80 Jupiters together they would make a star, you're not 1,000,000 miles off (maybe only 999,999) .

rccaulfield

Cú Giobach wrote: »

Since Jupiter is made of the same stuff as the Sun and if you jammed 80 Jupiters together they would make a star, you're not 1,000,000 miles off (maybe only 999,999) .

True i'm told jupiter can be looked at as a failed star!

Cú Giobach

rccaulfield wrote: »

True i'm told jupiter can be looked at as a failed star!

True-ish, if it would take at least 80 times more mass to become even a small star, then you could say the Country with a football team ranked 80th in the world is a failed World Cup Winner. True but slightly misleading.

Hmmm...maybe not the best analogy ...but you get my drift..:D

Flukey

colwood wrote: »

I see it every night too. It passes from east to west well above the horizion. It's dawn right now and as the sun comes up it's still clearly visable. So is it jupiter and if so does it come so close all the time or only in certain years?

It is not so much that it is coming close to us, but that it is in the right part of the sky to see it. It is similar to the way we can see the moon only every so often as it orbits us. We are currently on the same side of the sun as Jupiter is, so the sun is shining on it and we can see it. It is not always the same time every year, as Jupiter itself is orbiting the sun, but you will see it every year, and for a long period.

It takes almost 12 years for it to orbit the sun, so it works out that every year it is in one of the main constellations of the zodiac. All planets and the moon and sun, all pass in front of these constellations, but Jupiter is nice in that every year it is in the next one. Jupiter is currently in Pisces, as is Uranus as it happens, though it is a lot harder to see. It moves a lot slower, so it will be there for a while as Jupiter moves onward.

Over the coming months Jupiter will be on view. If you were very carefully noting things like the time it rises and what stars it is near, you will see a progression. If you've a good pair of binoculars, you'll just be able to make out its moons. In a small telescope, they make a nice sight. I am talking about a decent one, not one of those cheap toys if you think that can be used. So keep observing it over the coming months and you'll see what I mean about it changing. When the moon comes round, watch for it getting closer to Jupiter and passing it in the coming months too. It will give you an idea of how much the moon moves from night to night. In fact, even on the same night if you go and look at the moon and any bright object, over the course of a few hours you will see that they distance between them changes. It is simple things like this that anyone can see that make astronomy so interesting and easy to get into. So keep watching.

conti

What's the one in the exact opposite side of the sky from it?
Not as bright but seems to glimmer. It's also a small bit closer to the horizon.

Hauk

Yup, my money is on Jupiter. I was out with the scope tonight, and could make out cloud bands and colour. Great fun \o/

Cú Giobach

conti wrote: »

What's the one in the exact opposite side of the sky from it?
Not as bright but seems to glimmer. It's also a small bit closer to the horizon.

Venus low in west around 9-10 pm
Arcturus low in west around 12-1 am

conti

Nice one, cheers for that.

The Arcturus wiki entry made for an interesting read.

charlemont

Captain Chaos wrote: »

It's Jupiter in the East, it's been rising earlier for the past 2 months or so. I used to see it rise at around 4am back in late June. Now we can see it from about 11pm.

thanks i didnt know which planet it was. im looking at it right now..:)

Roomic Cube

had a look at jupiter through a friends scope for the first time last night, unreal, could see it pretty clear and 4 of the moons all in a row