Question about odd siting last night

[James Riley]

Last night, shortly after dark (23:00?), just east of Cotopaxi, Colorado, I was looking west-north-west at the horizon, just above some mountains.  With the naked eye, I observed a bright object. At first I thought it was a plane with those blinking red lights, but it did not appear to be moving.  It was very bright - far brighter than Venus.  It was most remarkable because it looked to have a rainbow pattern, that is, multiple colors at the same time, each one stacked upon the next.  It reminded me, upon reflection, of the unusual colors you see in a prism.  The colors were intense.  Not like Mars.  The sky was clear and moonless, and it was about 85 degrees F.  It may have had a very tiny tail but when I looked at it through my binoculars, they bounce around so much you can't tell if it's the object you are looking at or just the shaking of my pulse, etc.  As I said, it did not appear to be moving but after several minutes it did disappear behind the mountains, but not any faster than one would expect a star to set.  In other words, slow.

 

Does anyone know what that thing was?  It was very, very, cool to see.

[Nightspore]

26 minutes ago, James Riley said:

Last night, shortly after dark (23:00?), just east of Cotopaxi, Colorado, I was looking west-north-west at the horizon, just above some mountains.  With the naked eye, I observed a bright object. At first I thought it was a plane with those blinking red lights, but it did not appear to be moving.  It was very bright - far brighter than Venus.  It was most remarkable because it looked to have a rainbow pattern, that is, multiple colors at the same time, each one stacked upon the next.  It reminded me, upon reflection, of the unusual colors you see in a prism.  The colors were intense.  Not like Mars.  The sky was clear and moonless, and it was about 85 degrees F.  It may have had a very tiny tail but when I looked at it through my binoculars, they bounce around so much you can't tell if it's the object you are looking at or just the shaking of my pulse, etc.  As I said, it did not appear to be moving but after several minutes it did disappear behind the mountains, but not any faster than one would expect a star to set.  In other words, slow.

 

Does anyone know what that thing was?  It was very, very, cool to see.

 

Difficult to say as I live several thousand kilometres away from Colorado. Looking at my SN8 software Arcturus seems like a good candidate as it is one of the brightest stars in the sky. It is setting in the West as seen from the Northern Hemisphere at the moment. I saw it last night as I was observing Jupiter. Arcturus is quite distinctive and often used by amateur astronomers as a 'sign post' star to 'star hop' to find other objects. There are some spectacular double stars near it.

 

 

Failing that, it's possible you saw either an artificial satellite, an aeroplane, a weather balloon or a Zeta Reticulan scout ship.

[Nightspore]

I forgot swamp gas ...

[James Riley]

Found this on another site.  I would have asked there but they charge to join:   https://astromart.com/forums/astronomy/after-dark/bright-rainbow-colored-meteor?page=1#post181654

[Nightspore]

4 minutes ago, James Riley said:

Found this on another site.  I would have asked there but they charge to join:   https://astromart.com/forums/astronomy/after-dark/bright-rainbow-colored-meteor?page=1#post181654

 

That looks like it could be it. It's possibly from the Alpha Draconid meteor shower. Although I thought that was nearer October.

[James Riley]

It's there, again, right now.  Only much higher up from the horizon.  But it is earlier, now, I think.  Hmmmm.  Anyway, best I can say is west north west from Cotopaxi, Colorado.

[ApophisAstros]

No phones or cameras or astro imaging equipment , for proof or analysing.?

Roger

[Carastro]

Venus is just above the Horizon in Twilight in the west:

 

[Carastro]

Or a bit later Arcturus.

 

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Carastro

[Nightspore]

My first guess was that it was Arcturus. Venus is a possibility though. Arcturus is quite 'twinkly' and can produce a rainbow effect. When it is very low you are looking through a lot of atmosphere. Any local thermal effects, particularly off mountains, would distort the image. With a telescope you might see Venus's phase as it's around 75% illuminated. 

[James Riley]

If it is there again, tonight, I will try to take a photo with my cell phone but I don't have much hope for the quality.  I am a super amateur so, while I do have some equipment, it's all put away and I wouldn't know how to get a photo through the scope anyway.  I've never even used it.  I am, however, fairly sure it is no Venus.  I know Venus.  I'm thinking it must be that Arcturus the way you are describing it.  It sure is pretty.

 

[Nightspore]

The rainbow effect you described is what made me think of Arcturus, especially if it is low and you are looking through an atmosphere disturbed by turbulent seeing.

[Nightspore]

If it is Arcturus, an interesting synchronicity is that my username 'Nightspore' is a character in David Lindsay's 1920 novel A Voyage to Arcturus.

 

 

At only 36.7 light years away it is virtually in our own backyard.

 

 

It's also very probably a binary star. There's some debate whether it has exoplanets.

 

[James Riley]

It's up there, now, but higher up and smaller.  I took some pics I'll share tomorrow.  I'm going to watch it and assume it's going down and, hopefully, getting bigger as it approaches horizon.  Though it could be smaller because it's getting further away.  I do not know about these things.  My wife says it has a tail that points about four or five o'clock off of it.  It blinks red, white, green, blue.

[Nightspore]

9 hours ago, James Riley said:

It's up there, now, but higher up and smaller.  I took some pics I'll share tomorrow.  I'm going to watch it and assume it's going down and, hopefully, getting bigger as it approaches horizon.  Though it could be smaller because it's getting further away.  I do not know about these things.  My wife says it has a tail that points about four or five o'clock off of it.  It blinks red, white, green, blue.

 

Well, unless it actually is a Zeta Reticulan scout ship I still think it is most likely to be Arcturus seen through a distorting atmosphere.

[James Riley]

I'm going to try to attach a full size photo.  If it doesn't work, then I'll have to reduce the scale.  But as it is, I can really zoom in on it.  It seems to have a cloud around it.  No colors, like you see in real life (bright red, green, blue, white).  It doesn't have a tail and did not get better as it got lower.  But it does "set" really, really fast.  Faster than the moon, sun or other stars I see.  The first night was the best, and it got progressively smaller and less intense as the days went by.  Here's last night from my phone.  I think is just a star.

Edited August 26, 2021 by James Riley

[Nightspore]

35 minutes ago, James Riley said:

I'm going to try to attach a full size photo.  If it doesn't work, then I'll have to reduce the scale.  But as it is, I can really zoom in on it.  It seems to have a cloud around it.  No colors, like you see in real life (bright red, green, blue, white).  It doesn't have a tail and did not get better as it got lower.  But it does "set" really, really fast.  Faster than the moon, sun or other stars I see.  The first night was the best, and it got progressively smaller and less intense as the days went by.  Here's last night from my phone.  I think is just a star.

 

Everything sets due to Right Ascension (as the Earth rotates). It probably just appears to set more quickly as its declination is nearer the horizon than the zenith. Also bear in mind that stellar positions move annually as the Earth revolves around the Sun. This can even be noticed over a period of days. On April evenings I would watch Arcturus rise steadily in the East.

 

 

Look for Ursa Major (The Great Bear) as Arcturus literally follows the tail of the 'bear'. The main asterism is often referred to as 'The Plough' as it resembles an old fashioned plough. I think in the US and Canada it is called the Big Dippy or something. The two end stars of the handle of the 'plough' more or less point to Arcturus.

[James Riley]

Thanks.  I am very familiar with the Big Dipper as I use the North Star when patrolling on cloudless nights and the BD helps me find it.  So, now that you put up that diagram, tonight I will see if the star is still there and if it lines up with the last two stars of the handle.  Thanks.

 

P.S.  When I was noting the speed of setting, my suposition came from last night, shortly after dark, when it was very high up, relative to when I first spotted it on the first night (it was close to horizon that night, a little higher the second night, and about 50% from straight up last night.  I'll pay more attention tonight. 

[Nightspore]

Arcturus will set about 00:58 (BST) for me. Tomorrow it will set at 00:55, and every day it sets roughly three to four minutes earlier. I believe the word Arcturus literally means 'guardian of the bear' as it follows the Great Bear around the sky. It still looks like a plough to me, although I can see the 'feet' of the 'bear'. 

[ApophisAstros]

On 8/25/2021 at 4:53 PM, Nightspore said:

If it is Arcturus, an interesting synchronicity is that my username 'Nightspore' is a character in David Lindsay's 1920 novel A Voyage to Arcturus.

 

 

At only 36.7 light years away it is virtually in our own backyard.

 

 

It's also very probably a binary star. There's some debate whether it has exoplanets.

 

36 x 5.88 trillion miles is hardly in our back yard. LOL

Roger

[Nightspore]

31 minutes ago, ApophisAstros said:

36 x 5.88 trillion miles is hardly in our back yard. LOL

Roger

 

Maybe not your backyard lol!

Edited August 26, 2021 by Nightspore

[Carastro]

18 hours ago, James Riley said:

I'm going to try to attach a full size photo.  If it doesn't work, then I'll have to reduce the scale.  But as it is, I can really zoom in on it.  It seems to have a cloud around it.  No colors, like you see in real life (bright red, green, blue, white).  It doesn't have a tail and did not get better as it got lower.  But it does "set" really, really fast.  Faster than the moon, sun or other stars I see.  The first night was the best, and it got progressively smaller and less intense as the days went by.  Here's last night from my phone.  I think is just a star.

Really need to see the "star" in relation to other stuff up there and also the horizon would be helpful.  Next time you see it don't zoom in.  

 

Carole 

[James Riley]

Sounds good.  Last night was overcast.  Maybe tonight.

[Nightspore]

I watched Arcturus setting last night as I was setting-up my 127mm Mak for Saturn and Jupiter. Humidity was high and the seeing was around Antoniadi II. Although the Moon was bright, as it was rising the overall transparency was good.

 

 

I got a sharp 171x on Jupiter with a 9mm Tak' ortho' which impressed me considering the humidity.

 

 

Viewing with the naked eye as Arcturus got steadily lower it did exhibit a lot of spectral colours, which I attributed to the atmospheric conditions. In fact, it even seemed to have a short 'tail' at one point. The colours appeared almost as flashing aircraft navigation lights. 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2021 by Nightspore

[James Riley]

49 minutes ago, Nightspore said:

Viewing with the naked eye as Arcturus got steadily lower it did exhibit a lot of spectral colours, which I attributed to the atmospheric conditions. In fact, it even seemed to have a short 'tail' at one point. The colours appeared almost as flashing aircraft navigation lights. 

 

That sounds like it.  Strange I've never noticed it.  While I don't look up all the time like you guys, I have spent quite a bit of time patrolling at night and looking up.  This one, the other night, really caught my eye like no other star.  Metaphorically speaking, maybe my stars just happen to align. 

 

People said I have a "8in newtonian reflector on a EQ mount; 50mm finder scope and a 30mm finder as well . . . .  also, it looks to have some sort of drive motor, Looks like it has .965 Eps, Meade Starfinder, circa 1970'ish".

 

Anyway, some day . . .