Odd-Ball Picture of the Day

He had to lay 'er down to save it.

 

Probably forgot to put the plug in....

 

Something bright in the sky. Right around where Ursa Major would be if it was dark outside. This has to be about a magnitude -4.



Nothing is on the current sky map.



Its been there at least 10 minutes, not moving.

 

Anyone else see this?

 

Planet.

 

Satellite

 

Nope. Jupiter and Saturn are plainly visible in the southeast, Mars isn't rising for a few hours, Venus for a few after that.

Weirder still, it faded to red and disappeared about 15 minutes after I posted that.

Can't definitively rule that out, I don't guess, but I've been observing them for years and never heard of one sitting stationary for a half hour!

 

Mercury and Venus are only visible for a few hours before and after sunset/sunrise. Can't tell how bright it is in your pic so, you pick which one it was.

 

auminer, you picked a bad time to resume huffing the animal poop.

 

Once again. No.

This is the path of another satellite that was passing at the time of the observation. It isn’t the one that I saw, but the sky map was accurate for the time in question.

Note that Jupiter and Saturn are denoted...



Neither Venus nor Mars was anywhere near Ursa Major. They don't rise at this longitude for several hours yet.

I do not know what it was, but it was neither Venus nor Mars. Bank that.

I can't imagine what orbit would give a satellite a stationary appearance... Geosynchronous would be equatorial, no? This was northwest of DFW.

Frickin weird.

I went to get the telescope and it was gone. It had faded somewhat, and taken a redder hue before I went inside. I've seen that red change as the ISS goes into the earth's shadow sometimes.

 

But for how many hours a day can someone see Uranus?

 

When Mercury and Venus are visible, do you understand why they are only visible during the times I mentioned? You will never see them any other time, it's physically impossible.
Given the time stamp on your post and the altitude of the sun (just a shot in the dark), I'm gonna guess you're looking at Mercury just before sunset.
Did it get brighter as the sun went down and then it itself set below the horizon shortly afterwards?

 

Planets do not pass through Ursa Major. They are always visible along the ecliptic, which can be determined easily from the provided sky map by following Capricorn, Sagittarius, Libra, Virgo, and Leo around the lower portion of the map. Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon are denoted on the map following that line. Assuming he's right about where the object was it could not have been a planet. At least not Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn. Perhaps he discovered a new planet that nobody else has noticed all these years. That would be cool.

Just a tad unlikely, but cool nonetheless.

Meanwhile, back on Earth...

 

Geezus what animal is holding that. My eyes!!

 

Kinda cool.