I live in DC, and there is something glowing and sparkling in the southwestern sky. What is it? The space station? It must be, because it’s huge.
It’s probably Venus, which is low in the southwest sky currently.
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Actually I have no idea what it is, but it’s not the space station. According to this site http://heavens-above.com/ the ISS is somewhere over Africa right now.
No, it is definitely not Venus. I know Venus, and this ain’t no Venus. Venus is an orb, round of course. This is oblong and throwing off sparkles like I have never seen.
Is it Klatuu, maybe?
Okay, I guess it is Venus. This is an especially clear night in DC, and I haven’t looked up at the sky in quite a while. But that was damn impressive.
Yeah, Venus can really throw people for a loop when it’s close to the Earth like that. Always good for a show, that’un.
Actually, I did look up in the sky a few weeks ago, when Venus, Jupiter and the moon were all very close together. And I’ve seen, and knew what I was seeing, Venus and Jupiter many times before. The thing that struck me tonight, was that there it was, out of the blue, this bright and shiny thing in the heavens, where I didn’t expect anything to be. As I have said, it was in the south western sky. How long will it be there?
Ok, good you have it figured out. But for future reference, things that are in orbit around the earth, such as the space station and satellites and the Shuttle, MOVE. If you see something in the sky that stays in that spot, then it isn’t an orbiting object. They move, looking not unlike an airplane, and you would know right away that it isn’t Venus, or any celestial object.
[Jesse Ventura] No other object has been misidentified as a flying saucer more often than the planet Venus. [/Jesse Ventura]
Did you see it when it looked like this? I set it as wallpaper, but I’m starting to tire of it. About due to change.
Are there any pictures of Venus looking strange or mysterious in the day or night sky? I need to see for myself what these people are mistaking for a UFO.
True; not quite what I was looking for, but impressive all the same.
My problem is, trying to imagine how anyone could get alarmed, or even curious enough, to make an official report about a “glowing object in the sky” that isn’t even moving?!
The only people who got to see that are in Australia. By the time the sun set on East Coast US that same day, the moon had moved past the conjunction so we got a sad face instead.
ivan: Simply put - ignorance. People don’t know what’s in the night sky so unusual things set’ em off.
It’s easier to see for yourself. Go outside about an hour after sunset (once it is actually dark). Look up in the sky above the direction where the sun sets. You’ll see it. It’s that really bright star-like object.
As it’s gotten closer to the horizon, I have several times mistaken it for the light on top of a radio mast (until my brain managed to point out that it was the wrong color, and that there was no radio mast there before).
The brightness and size are such that they convey the seeming of being more than just a pinpoint, and might almost have a shape to it. This in turn makes it seem artificial and out of place.
I doubt you could capture that impression in a picture, but you can probably see it if you take a look at it first hand.
You may be starting to tire of it, but I just set it as my desktop picture. Fabbo McGabbo!
Well, unclelem, I took your advice and had a look in the skies whilst I was walking my dog. Trouble was, the entire sky was covered with a haze, and not even one star could be seen. There was no sign of the moon, and the only light was a pale yellow glow, which took up about a 15 degree arc of the North West horizon, and looked more like a very weak sun going down. What kind of atmospheric phenomenon is that? Any ideas?
Venus reaches its greatest elongation east of the Sun on 15 January. After that it will start to lose altitude each evening. It will be at its brightest in the last few weeks of February. In early March it will get lost in the evening twilight as it nears the Sun, reaching inferior conjunction (i.e. between Earth and the Sun) on 28 March. Venus then returns to the early morning sky in April and continues as the Morning Star right through until mid-December.
It’s Lucifer himself! Run for your lives!