What's this in the sky today?

[Red Squirrel]

Video: (movement gives a bit more perspective of it's size)
http://redsquirrel.me/misc/brightshinythinginsky.mp4


Someone told me it's Jupiter, but can we even see that from here, and that big? Whatever it is, it's current position is past the sun given the sun set is there, and I can see a reflection off it.

Either way, pretty surreal to see something like this in the sky so bright. Looks much better in person, and much bigger than say, a star.

 

[sdifox]

Weather ballon

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wait, they did launch one last night from our airport, could it seriously be that? I did not even think of that.


It's Canada's version of the space shuttle.

 

[Brigandier]

Jupiter, and it can be that big, it's the biggest planet in our solar system. If you had a telescope you could see moons.

 

[Crono]

Use a compass app or sensors on your phone, mark down direction and time.

 

[sdifox]

Oh, try google sky.

 

[Crono]

Oh, try google sky.

I was about to suggest Stellarium.

Love that program.

 

[Murloc]

damn I've never managed to see a planet

 

[Arcadio]

Jupiter, and it can be that big, it's the biggest planet in our solar system. If you had a telescope you could see moons.

You could see the moons even with binoculars.

OP: Download Stellarium so you can see what's in the sky from your location. Throughout the year you can see Venus, Mars, and Jupiter with the naked eye. Mercury, and Saturn with a telescope.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Hmm it might be Saturn according to Google Sky. It's not dead on but it's within 15 or so degrees, not sure how accurate this is normally suppose to be.

I should probably go to bed but this is pretty cool to actually get to see this.

 

[dennilfloss]

I think it's Jupiter according to Stellarium.

 

[fjmeat]

Jupiter is usually seen in as a large star in the Fall toward the east.

 

[techs]

That's no moon!

 

[DrPizza]

It's kind of sad when you think about it. We like to think of ourselves as advanced, but 1000's of years ago, people could look up at the sky & recognize most of the things up there. (Though, comets did have a tendency to throw them off a bit.) Nowadays, it's unusual to find someone who can point upward and know the name of even one star (besides the sun). Most idiots can find the big dipper, if they're lucky, but cannot locate easily found stars. It's not as if there are even that many stars visible to the naked eye from Earth. (15k-ish), but there aren't really that many very bright stars. And, if you occasionally looked upward, you'd eventually start recognizing, "hey, that thing's not usually there. Must be a wanderer (planet)." And, eventually, you would recognize the patterns of some of those planets. Hell, hundreds of years ago, with fairly crude instruments, they figured out that the orbits were elliptical, rather than perfectly circular, despite the fact that if you were away from the solar system and looked at the shapes of the orbits, you would not be able to distinguish the difference with your eyes, because the orbits are so close to being circular.

 

[sdifox]

It's kind of sad when you think about it. We like to think of ourselves as advanced, but 1000's of years ago, people could look up at the sky & recognize most of the things up there. (Though, comets did have a tendency to throw them off a bit.) Nowadays, it's unusual to find someone who can point upward and know the name of even one star (besides the sun). Most idiots can find the big dipper, if they're lucky, but cannot locate easily found stars. It's not as if there are even that many stars visible to the naked eye from Earth. (15k-ish), but there aren't really that many very bright stars. And, if you occasionally looked upward, you'd eventually start recognizing, "hey, that thing's not usually there. Must be a wanderer (planet)." And, eventually, you would recognize the patterns of some of those planets. Hell, hundreds of years ago, with fairly crude instruments, they figured out that the orbits were elliptical, rather than perfectly circular, despite the fact that if you were away from the solar system and looked at the shapes of the orbits, you would not be able to distinguish the difference with your eyes, because the orbits are so close to being circular.

given the light pollution in the cities, it is hard to do so even if you kow how to.

 

[Crono]

given the light pollution in the cities, it is hard to do so even if you kow how to.

It makes me sad how little we can see in most of the civilized (read: populated) world. There are some places even in the U.S. where there is low enough light pollution to get a decent view of the sky at night (been meaning to visit Cherry Springs State Park, which is closer to me than the places out West), but the vast majority of humans of the planet, we sacrifice not being able to see and be in awe of the heavens at night 99.999% of the time for city lights.

It might be a fair trade, but it doesn't feel that way when you spend a night camping under the night sky and have a really clear view of the stars.

 

[Iron Woode]

looks to be a sunrise and therefore it is likely Venus.

Saturn is a dull brownish yellow and is easily seen after dusk and before dawn. It tracks across the sky here East to West.

 

[notposting]

Really disappointed no one on here suggested...Uranus.

*rimshot*

 

[Iron Woode]

Really disappointed no one on here suggested...Uranus.

*rimshot*

because most of us posting here are not 12?

 

[notposting]

because most of us posting here are not 12?

Watching the toddler and baby all week and watching endless repeats of Timmy Time, Backyardigans, Mighty Machines, Thomas the Train, etc, has an effect.

 

[Jeff7]

It's kind of sad when you think about it. We like to think of ourselves as advanced, but 1000's of years ago, people could look up at the sky & recognize most of the things up there. (Though, comets did have a tendency to throw them off a bit.) Nowadays, it's unusual to find someone who can point upward and know the name of even one star (besides the sun). Most idiots can find the big dipper, if they're lucky, but cannot locate easily found stars. It's not as if there are even that many stars visible to the naked eye from Earth. (15k-ish), but there aren't really that many very bright stars. And, if you occasionally looked upward, you'd eventually start recognizing, "hey, that thing's not usually there. Must be a wanderer (planet)." And, eventually, you would recognize the patterns of some of those planets. Hell, hundreds of years ago, with fairly crude instruments, they figured out that the orbits were elliptical, rather than perfectly circular, despite the fact that if you were away from the solar system and looked at the shapes of the orbits, you would not be able to distinguish the difference with your eyes, because the orbits are so close to being circular.

I guess when your life could depend on knowing where the stars are, if you'd get lost, you will pay more attention to those sorts of things.

(And as you said, it of course helps if you can see most of them in the first place.)

It makes me sad how little we can see in most of the civilized (read: populated) world. There are some places even in the U.S. where there is low enough light pollution to get a decent view of the sky at night (been meaning to visit Cherry Springs State Park, which is closer to me than the places out West), but the vast majority of humans of the planet, we sacrifice not being able to see and be in awe of the heavens at night 99.999% of the time for city lights.

It might be a fair trade, but it doesn't feel that way when you spend a night camping under the night sky and have a really clear view of the stars.

There was a power outage recently that affected a sizable area here. I stepped outside to see how widespread it was. It went in all 3 directions at the nearby intersection, just darkness as far as I could see, with the exception of a few stores on emergency power, and the cars on the road. But I could see many stars again, more than the few dozen normally visible. And, I was treated to a pretty nice meteor in that short time.


Anyway, I thought about a piece of one of Neil deGrasse Tyson's stories about why he's in astrophysics:

"It was my first day in the dome of the Hayden Planetarium, actually here in New York City. I was nine years old. I looked up and the lights dimmed and the stars came out, countless thousands of stars, and that didn’t look like anything I had seen before from New York City, from the Bronx. I said 'That can’t be true, there’s a dozen stars in the night sky.'"


I grew up in a rural area, but there were cities several miles away, and there was always some light pollution. The Milky Way was just faintly visible on very clear nights with low humidity, though there were still many stars to see. Now living in the suburbs of a city, there are more than Tyson's dozen stars, but it's still only several dozen.

 

[WelshBloke]

damn I've never managed to see a planet

Bet you have.

Unless you've never been outside at night.

 

[sandorski]

Bet you have.

Unless you've never been outside at night.

..or seen outside a building...

 

[Pocatello]

It's the Mothership. Coming to take Tom Cruise for a long trip.

 

[SagaLore]

damn I've never managed to see a planet

look down