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Earthsky Tonight - Sep 19 2009
Closest planet/bright star pairing predawn September 20
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In 2009, the year’s closest pairing of a planet with a first-magnitude star happens before sunrise on Sunday, September 20. The planet Venus couples up with Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion. The two luminaries rise more than 2 hours before the sun, and hover low in the eastern dawn and predawn sky.
Although Regulus ranks as a first-magnitude star, Venus outshines this star by over 100 times. Venus is the most brilliant point of light to bedeck the heavens. It blazes more brightly than any celestial object, except for the moon and sun. If you have a hard time spotting Regulus by Venus tomorrow, aim binoculars or a low-powered telescope at Venus to zoom in on Regulus.
Venus and Regulus appear close together on the sky’s dome, because they reside along the same line of sight. However, these two bodies are nowhere close together in space. Venus is about 12 light-minutes from Earth, whereas the star Regulus is some 78 light-years away. As you look at Venus and Regulus tomorrow, Regulus lies roughly 3.5 million times farther away than Venus does.
Get up at least an hour before sunrise tomorrow to catch the year’s closest pairing of a planet and a first-magnitude star!
Written by Bruce McClure
Comments (26)
at 09.20 am on 09-19-2009 Bruce McClure
Qudratullah,
Check out the September 20th show about the young crescent moon at dusk.
Bruce
at 11.05 pm on 09-19-2009 frank Becky
I think my wife is alien
at 05.21 am on 09-19-2009 Frank
what is the best site to be able to scan around the sky and learn where/what to view?
Replyat 09.22 am on 09-19-2009 Bruce McClure
Frank,
Come to this site daily and you're bound to learn a thing or two. You can also see a bunch of astronomy links at my website: http://www.idialstars.com.
Bruce
at 7.42 pm on 09-19-2009 Don
walking with my wife about 8pm a little after maybe. I am pretty sure direction was southwest, huge bright light like an upside down funnel shape, that kept growing down wards with a elongated shape at the top, very clear very brilliant, seemed to briefly flare brighter then as we watched light dimmed and seemed like only smoke or vapor left, which visibly dissipated for next ten minutes. Was there some type of launch tonight?, we are on Cape Cod, seems unlikely we would see this. Don smith180@hotmail.com
Replyat 8.09 pm on 09-19-2009 Keith Fleming
Hey,
I'm in Antrim , N.H. and My girlfriend and cousin were watching fireworks for the annual Harvest from our porch and also saw this exactly as you described , it was exactly SW , it also seemed to be going up as it faded
and the "smoke" or seemed like ???left over light? The Cape is well over a hundred miles from here someone else HAD to see this , how strange! Glad we found someone that saw it also , we've been searching sites since we saw it.
at 8.57 pm on 09-19-2009 Cheryl
i saw it with a friend while driving on I-91 in Vermont. I would have guessed south-southwest
at 9.39 pm on 09-19-2009 charlie
I saw the same light at the same time looked like it was in the southeast from my location in Baltimore Maryland.
at 10.56 pm on 09-19-2009 Young Jae OH
YEAAAAAA i was walking with my FRIENDS JOHN , ALEX HYUNG , NAEUN !! and we all saw it !!
we were like UFO !!!!
at 11.02 pm on 09-19-2009 Dee
Saw this too in South Jersey at 7:52pm. Go to twitter and put in bright light in sky or strange light in sky. It was all over the news in Philadelphia. A guy in Canada has a picture of it. They believe it was a rocket launch from NASA in Virginia. It launched around the same time.
at 11.03 pm on 09-19-2009 alex
HAHAHA yeoung jae!
yeah we saw it, it was pretty sick
at 8.06 pm on 09-19-2009 Dennis
Not sure what it is but i am here in Central Jersey and we had seen the same thing about 7:50pm. It was a bright light in the south direction that had two funnel shape lights that seemed to fade away toward the bright light. Then a cloud of smoke seemed to cover the bright light and then it slowly dissappered. I continued to watch and as it was completly gone. Then i had seen a red flash of light. Does anyone have a clue what this is?
Replyat 9.43 pm on 09-19-2009 Dave
Did it seem to move at all to you?
Can anyone recommend any sites to check?
at 8.35 pm on 09-19-2009 Cathy
My husband & I saw exactly same thing in Killingworth, CT. Anyone know what this was?
Replyat 9.25 pm on 09-19-2009 Mike
Saw the same thing from Albany NY.......very brilliant and intense, and somewhat startling to see
Replyat 9.36 pm on 09-19-2009 Dave
About 7:52 Eastern Time here is Chesapeake, A my wife and I were sitting on our deck. Towards the east we noticed a very brilliant, bright white light. It looked like aircraft lights or like a spotlight on a search helicopter or even maybe a rocket motor staging.
It was about 25 degrees above the horizon and didn't last long. It seemed to have haze or smoke around the light as it dimmed and disappeared. We kept watching but didn't see anything else.
It also didn't seem to move.
Was it space debris, a rocket launch staging?
Replyat 10.17 pm on 09-19-2009 Dave
And I'm here in VA near NASA, go figure....
Dozens Report Strange Lights Over Mass.
NASA Launch Precedes UFO Sightings Across East Coast
Posted: 10:25 pm EDT September 19, 2009
Updated: 10:40 pm EDT September 19, 2009
BOSTON -- Cameras and radar systems along the East Coast were trained on a NASA rocket that soared into the atmosphere on Saturday night, but researchers weren’t the only ones who got an eyeful during the experiment.
NASA
Dozens of people along the coast reported seeing strange, cone-shaped lights in the sky in the minutes following the 7:46 p.m. rocket launch, which was conducted at a NASA facility in Virginia.
Several people in Massachusetts also contacted WCVB-TV on Saturday to report seeing the unidentified lights, including callers from Burlington, Bellingham, Belmont and Weston.
NASA launched the Black Brant XII suborbital rocket as part of an experiment to gather data on the highest clouds in the earth’s atmosphere. The rocket was designed to create an artificial cloud at about 173 miles above the earth’s surface – a site that researcher Keith Koehler said probably accounts for the strange sightings along the coast.
Koehler said researchers usually notify police and send out reverse 911 calls when they think a rocket launch will produce any unusual effects, but didn’t anticipate any problems with Saturday’s project. Koehler said he was fielding calls from around Virginia about the launch in the evening.
Data collected during the experiment will provide insight into the formation, evolution, and properties of noctilucent clouds, which are typically observed naturally at high latitudes, according to a statement released earlier by NASA. In addition to the understanding of noctilucent clouds, scientists will use the experiment to predict the distribution of dust particles from rocket motors.
at 10.13 pm on 09-19-2009 kim
We saw the same light while sitting on our dock at lake walleNpaupack PA. Can't wait to find out what it was!
Replyat 10.34 pm on 09-19-2009 Arnold
Wow i have to say im a little "dissapointed" i thought it might have been a ufo or something. My mom saw i wasnt out at the time and by the time my mom told me it was gone. Wow but from what i heard it looked like a helicopter shining its beam toearth and the my mom saw about 5 jets at a VERY high altitude. So loud you could hear the jets roaring
Replyat 10.37 pm on 09-19-2009 Arnold
Sorry i meant to say " could'n hear engines roaring"
at 11.22 pm on 09-19-2009 Paul
Hi, I saw the bright @ 8:30pm in South direction 20-30 deg above horizon line. At midnight it moved in South-west with 40-50 deg above horizon.
I seldom see object so bright, so nice - what is it, if I may ask since I'm good at astronomy at all.
Replyat 08.20 am on 09-21-2009 Bruce McClure
Paul,
Undoubtedly, you were looking at the planet Jupiter. It's by far the brightest celestial point of light to bedeck the evening sky.
at 12.36 am on 09-25-2009 Dave
Here a You Tude vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb45uBaj2Mc&feature=related
ReplyAdd your own comment
You are replying to a comment
at 09.20 am on 09-19-2009 Bruce McClure
Qudratullah,
Check out the September 20th show about the young crescent moon at dusk.
Bruce
at 11.05 pm on 09-19-2009 frank Becky
I think my wife is alien
at 05.21 am on 09-19-2009 Frank
what is the best site to be able to scan around the sky and learn where/what to view?
Replyat 09.22 am on 09-19-2009 Bruce McClure
Frank,
Come to this site daily and you're bound to learn a thing or two. You can also see a bunch of astronomy links at my website: http://www.idialstars.com.
Bruce
at 7.42 pm on 09-19-2009 Don
walking with my wife about 8pm a little after maybe. I am pretty sure direction was southwest, huge bright light like an upside down funnel shape, that kept growing down wards with a elongated shape at the top, very clear very brilliant, seemed to briefly flare brighter then as we watched light dimmed and seemed like only smoke or vapor left, which visibly dissipated for next ten minutes. Was there some type of launch tonight?, we are on Cape Cod, seems unlikely we would see this. Don smith180@hotmail.com
at 8.09 pm on 09-19-2009 Keith Fleming
Hey,
I'm in Antrim , N.H. and My girlfriend and cousin were watching fireworks for the annual Harvest from our porch and also saw this exactly as you described , it was exactly SW , it also seemed to be going up as it faded
and the "smoke" or seemed like ???left over light? The Cape is well over a hundred miles from here someone else HAD to see this , how strange! Glad we found someone that saw it also , we've been searching sites since we saw it.
at 8.57 pm on 09-19-2009 Cheryl
i saw it with a friend while driving on I-91 in Vermont. I would have guessed south-southwest
at 9.39 pm on 09-19-2009 charlie
I saw the same light at the same time looked like it was in the southeast from my location in Baltimore Maryland.
at 10.56 pm on 09-19-2009 Young Jae OH
YEAAAAAA i was walking with my FRIENDS JOHN , ALEX HYUNG , NAEUN !! and we all saw it !!
we were like UFO !!!!
at 11.02 pm on 09-19-2009 Dee
Saw this too in South Jersey at 7:52pm. Go to twitter and put in bright light in sky or strange light in sky. It was all over the news in Philadelphia. A guy in Canada has a picture of it. They believe it was a rocket launch from NASA in Virginia. It launched around the same time.
at 11.03 pm on 09-19-2009 alex
HAHAHA yeoung jae!
yeah we saw it, it was pretty sick
at 8.06 pm on 09-19-2009 Dennis
Not sure what it is but i am here in Central Jersey and we had seen the same thing about 7:50pm. It was a bright light in the south direction that had two funnel shape lights that seemed to fade away toward the bright light. Then a cloud of smoke seemed to cover the bright light and then it slowly dissappered. I continued to watch and as it was completly gone. Then i had seen a red flash of light. Does anyone have a clue what this is?
Replyat 9.43 pm on 09-19-2009 Dave
Did it seem to move at all to you?
Can anyone recommend any sites to check?
at 8.35 pm on 09-19-2009 Cathy
My husband & I saw exactly same thing in Killingworth, CT. Anyone know what this was?
Replyat 9.25 pm on 09-19-2009 Mike
Saw the same thing from Albany NY.......very brilliant and intense, and somewhat startling to see
Replyat 9.36 pm on 09-19-2009 Dave
About 7:52 Eastern Time here is Chesapeake, A my wife and I were sitting on our deck. Towards the east we noticed a very brilliant, bright white light. It looked like aircraft lights or like a spotlight on a search helicopter or even maybe a rocket motor staging.
It was about 25 degrees above the horizon and didn't last long. It seemed to have haze or smoke around the light as it dimmed and disappeared. We kept watching but didn't see anything else.
It also didn't seem to move.
Was it space debris, a rocket launch staging?
at 10.17 pm on 09-19-2009 Dave
And I'm here in VA near NASA, go figure....
Dozens Report Strange Lights Over Mass.
NASA Launch Precedes UFO Sightings Across East Coast
Posted: 10:25 pm EDT September 19, 2009
Updated: 10:40 pm EDT September 19, 2009
BOSTON -- Cameras and radar systems along the East Coast were trained on a NASA rocket that soared into the atmosphere on Saturday night, but researchers weren’t the only ones who got an eyeful during the experiment.
NASA
Dozens of people along the coast reported seeing strange, cone-shaped lights in the sky in the minutes following the 7:46 p.m. rocket launch, which was conducted at a NASA facility in Virginia.
Several people in Massachusetts also contacted WCVB-TV on Saturday to report seeing the unidentified lights, including callers from Burlington, Bellingham, Belmont and Weston.
NASA launched the Black Brant XII suborbital rocket as part of an experiment to gather data on the highest clouds in the earth’s atmosphere. The rocket was designed to create an artificial cloud at about 173 miles above the earth’s surface – a site that researcher Keith Koehler said probably accounts for the strange sightings along the coast.
Koehler said researchers usually notify police and send out reverse 911 calls when they think a rocket launch will produce any unusual effects, but didn’t anticipate any problems with Saturday’s project. Koehler said he was fielding calls from around Virginia about the launch in the evening.
Data collected during the experiment will provide insight into the formation, evolution, and properties of noctilucent clouds, which are typically observed naturally at high latitudes, according to a statement released earlier by NASA. In addition to the understanding of noctilucent clouds, scientists will use the experiment to predict the distribution of dust particles from rocket motors.
at 10.13 pm on 09-19-2009 kim
We saw the same light while sitting on our dock at lake walleNpaupack PA. Can't wait to find out what it was!
Replyat 10.34 pm on 09-19-2009 Arnold
Wow i have to say im a little "dissapointed" i thought it might have been a ufo or something. My mom saw i wasnt out at the time and by the time my mom told me it was gone. Wow but from what i heard it looked like a helicopter shining its beam toearth and the my mom saw about 5 jets at a VERY high altitude. So loud you could hear the jets roaring
at 10.37 pm on 09-19-2009 Arnold
Sorry i meant to say " could'n hear engines roaring"
at 11.22 pm on 09-19-2009 Paul
Hi, I saw the bright @ 8:30pm in South direction 20-30 deg above horizon line. At midnight it moved in South-west with 40-50 deg above horizon.
I seldom see object so bright, so nice - what is it, if I may ask since I'm good at astronomy at all.
at 08.20 am on 09-21-2009 Bruce McClure
Paul,
Undoubtedly, you were looking at the planet Jupiter. It's by far the brightest celestial point of light to bedeck the evening sky.
at 12.36 am on 09-25-2009 Dave
Here a You Tude vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb45uBaj2Mc&feature=related