Astronomy experts: request for help

[Operator]

Hi,

Yesterday I tried to make a photo of what seems to be a star ... but failed. So currently I can only describe what I am seeing ...

Here in the Caribbean we are fortunate with regular clear and cloud free skies. I noticed the last couple of month's a star that is easily visible even when the sun is not completely set.

It is in the same spot for months so I guess it's not a planet ... It becomes brighter and brighter each day. It now almost looks like the head lights of an approaching plane.
It's approx. 45 degrees up in the air, direction West/North-west. It 'sets' about 1.5 .. 2 hours later than the sun.
In that period it's really bright when the sky turns dark.

Is there anyone on this forum who knows what this object might be ?

Thanks ...

[Kra]

I saw it too... i'm sure you're talking about the same "star" because it is the only one that bright in the sky and the only one that bright that i ever saw. All you said in your description fits "my star". And... and... is beautiful. I saw it through binoculars. I also tried to take pictures and film it, but i don't have a camera that can make clear photos of the sky at night.

/later edit: i see it everynight and first time i saw it was about a week ago or so, it caught my attention because of its brightness and i thought (i kind of hoped) that it was something else.

[Luke]

You can use this site http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Yourhorizon to see what is in the sky, given time, longitude and latitude :)

[yiolas]

Hi Guys,
I think it's Venus. I've been seeing it as well for the last 3 weeks. I live on the far eastern part of t he Mediterranean.
This is what I got at http://www.nightskyinfo.com/


Venus is often considered the Evening Star or the Morning Star, depending on which time of day it is up and dominating the twilight. For example, until late September 2010, Venus will appear as a brilliant yellow star in the evening sky, right after sunset. Located 15° above the western horizon one hour after sundown, it remains on view until after 10 P.M. local daylight time.

At the beginning of June, Venus spans 13" across and shows a gibbous disk 80-percent lit. By late in the month, the disk has grown to 16" and the phase has shrunk to 70-percent illumination. The planet shines at a stunning -4 magnitude, about ten times brighter than the brightest star Sirius, and by far the brightest celestial object after the Sun and Moon. Venus is so bright due to a combination of factors.

Venus is covered with an opaque layer of highly reflective clouds of sulfuric acid. These clouds reflect 70-percent of the sunlight that hits them. For comparison, the Earth reflects 36-percent and Mars and the Moon around 15-percent of the sunlight striking them. Venus is also rather large, being only a bit smaller than the Earth - its radius is 95-percent as large as Earth's. The final piece of Venus' brightness puzzle is its close distance to Earth. Right now, the planet is 1.2 astronomical units (110 million miles) from Earth.

Why I don't recall seeing it so bright and at that position previous years I don't know.

[Operator]

Hi all,

thanks for the replies ... I knew that Venus is the Evening Star or the Morning Star ... but I am not sure if I can tie it to my observation.
I am trying to 'understand' what I am seeing ...

Despite my earlier remarks I guess it can be a planet ... and Venus makes sense ...
Depending on the speed of orbit it can at one time be far away and be at the other side from the sun while at other times it is at
the same side as earth an thus much closer ...
If the difference in orbit speed is small it will result in the planets getting closer and closer in small steps ... that matches my observation
that it seems to be (almost) in the same position each day but it is becoming brighter and brighter.

I will look up more details later ... fascinating stuff ... learning all the time

Cheers

[Kra]

Why I don't recall seeing it so bright and at that position previous years I don't know.
Because it wasn't that bright before. All planets in the solar system are heating up and are brighter than ever before (not just because they are heating). Since last year, i begun to see how stars / planets seem brighter as expected. But this... venus or not... it's much brighter than anything i ever saw in the sky at least from where i live.

[Perplex]

Well I guess we're talking about the same star since I began seeing it about a week ago too . And I'm really keen on observing my night sky on every clear night and not only. But I must say, I haven't seen this one before, or at least not like this ! It's astonishingly bright and can be seen even at unexpected periods of the day.
So is it or is it not Venus after all ?

[Kra]

i don't know if it's venus or not... but this is it
pln9JrpzwNU
Now... in the video it doesn't seem to be that big and bright... but that's just in the video... for those who didn't saw it (yet) it is much bigger and brighter.

Here it is with a little zoom
jUj4sn_J1ys

[yiolas]

Hi Guys,
Try the Stardome at: http://www.astronomy.com/asy/stardome/default.aspx

Just plug in your coordinates and it displays what you should be seeing in the sky and where.

[yiolas]

This is a cool site to find out what 'known' spacecraft are flying over your area of the world. Plug in the country or state and you can get direction, time and duration.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/