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Date: 22 Sep 2006 11:53:46
From: Lauren the Ravishing
Subject: What was I looking at?
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I was on my roof last night for the first time with my telescope so I
have little idea where or what things are. I saw what appeared to be an
airplane except it didn't move. It was brighter than most things and
seemed to pulsate with multi-colored lights. It was somewhere between
the North and North East region at about 9:30 pm in Westchester N.Y. (~
40 lat), somewhere between 10 and 25 degrees above the horizon. I
didn't see much in my star mapping software, so I assume it was an
airplane. I didn't watch it long enough to see if it rotated with the
rest of the sphere. The cheap 3x Barlow that came with my scope only
made the dot distorted.
~ L
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Date: 23 Sep 2006 01:03:25
From: Sam Wormley
Subject: Re: What was I looking at?
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Lauren the Ravishing wrote:
> I was on my roof last night for the first time with my telescope so I
> have little idea where or what things are. I saw what appeared to be an
> airplane except it didn't move. It was brighter than most things and
> seemed to pulsate with multi-colored lights. It was somewhere between
> the North and North East region at about 9:30 pm in Westchester N.Y. (~
> 40 lat), somewhere between 10 and 25 degrees above the horizon. I
> didn't see much in my star mapping software, so I assume it was an
> airplane. I didn't watch it long enough to see if it rotated with the
> rest of the sphere. The cheap 3x Barlow that came with my scope only
> made the dot distorted.
>
> ~ L
>
Ah Capella
At 9:30 last night from Binghampton, New York, the 0th magnitude
star, Capella, would have been 14.5 degrees above the horizon in the
Northeast (40 degrees azimuth) and at that altitude often exhibits
color from atmospheric turbulence.
The Pleiades was almost that same altitude, but further south at
69 degrees azimuth.
It is an excellent time of the year to see the Milky Way stretching
from the northeast, overhead and to the southwest, more hours of
darkness and a mosquito killing freeze looming in the next few weeks.
-Sam
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Date: 22 Sep 2006 22:59:42
From: Jeroen Smaal
Subject: Re: What was I looking at?
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Lauren the Ravishing wrote :
> seemed to pulsate with multi-colored lights. It was somewhere between
> the North and North East region at about 9:30 pm in Westchester N.Y. (~
> 40 lat), somewhere between 10 and 25 degrees above the horizon. I
Could have been Capella.
Jeroen.
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Date: 22 Sep 2006 21:10:46
From: Craig M. Bobchin
Subject: Re: What was I looking at?
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Lauren as I mentioned in my post in your other thread, do not use the
barlow. 3x is too much for the setup you have.
As to what you saw, it was most likely the star Capella in the
constellation Aruiga. The reason it was pulsing (sintillation) was due
to it's being low in the sky and close to the horizon. You were looking
through a lot of atmosphere. It is better to look at objects higher in
the sky where you are not looking through as much air.
Now that you know where Capella is, look at your planisphere and try an
relate what you see in the sky with what is visible.
Congratulations, you've just taken your first steps into a larger world.
Craig
In article <1158951226.004595.165720@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com >,
lauren_the_ravishing@yahoo.com says...
> I was on my roof last night for the first time with my telescope so I
> have little idea where or what things are. I saw what appeared to be an
> airplane except it didn't move. It was brighter than most things and
> seemed to pulsate with multi-colored lights. It was somewhere between
> the North and North East region at about 9:30 pm in Westchester N.Y. (~
> 40 lat), somewhere between 10 and 25 degrees above the horizon. I
> didn't see much in my star mapping software, so I assume it was an
> airplane. I didn't watch it long enough to see if it rotated with the
> rest of the sphere. The cheap 3x Barlow that came with my scope only
> made the dot distorted.
>
> ~ L
>
>
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