I realise that astronomy isn't meteorology - but nonetheless - did anyone else see the star (?) flickering red and green as well as your common-or-garden white last night towards the south-western sky? Fascinating. At first I thought it was a plane but that realised it wasn't moving.

Richard

On Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:11:22 -0700 (PDT), Richard Dixon
wrote:

I realise that astronomy isn't meteorology - but nonetheless - did anyone else see the star (?) flickering red and green as well as your common-or-garden white last night towards the south-western sky? Fascinating. At first I thought it was a plane but that realised it wasn't moving.

Richard

Try uk.sci.astronomy

Stars don't flicker red and green. It may have been a geostationary
satellite or a planet.

Steve

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On 27/03/2012 12:11, Richard Dixon wrote:
I realise that astronomy isn't meteorology - but nonetheless - did anyone else see the star (?) flickering red and green as well as your common-or-garden white last night towards the south-western sky? Fascinating. At first I thought it was a plane but that realised it wasn't moving.

What time?

www.heavens-above.com is your friend.

--
Wendy Tinley
Sheffield

"Richard Dixon" wrote in message
news:4371975.307.1332846682977.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@vbbfd11...

I realise that astronomy isn't meteorology - but nonetheless - did anyone
else see the star (?) flickering red and green as well as your
common-or-garden white last night towards the south-western sky?
Fascinating. At first I thought it was a plane but that realised it wasn't
moving.

Richard

It was probably Sirius. This is the brightest star in the sky, as opposed
to planet, and is in the SW sky these evenings. It does appear to flash red
and green - one book I read said it "flashes with all the colours of the
rainbow" but it's only red and green I seem to see.

Ian Bingham,
Inchmarlo, Aberdeenshire.

On Tuesday, March 27, 2012 1:46:15 PM UTC+1, Ian Bingham wrote:

It was probably Sirius. This is the brightest star in the sky, as opposed
to planet, and is in the SW sky these evenings. It does appear to flash red
and green - one book I read said it "flashes with all the colours of the
rainbow" but it's only red and green I seem to see.

Thanks. I was seeing red and green last night (and I'd only had two pints).

Richard

On 27/03/2012 12:44, Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
On Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:11:22 -0700 (PDT), Richard Dixon
wrote:

I realise that astronomy isn't meteorology - but nonetheless - did anyone else see the star (?) flickering red and green as well as your common-or-garden white last night towards the south-western sky? Fascinating. At first I thought it was a plane but that realised it wasn't moving.

Sirius. It is bright enough that when low down the differential
refraction in turbulent air can make it seem any colour at all. Most
people see some variant of red and green with the odd flash of purple.

Try uk.sci.astronomy

Stars don't flicker red and green. It may have been a geostationary
satellite or a planet.

Steve

Stars do flicker with colour when they are low down. The dispersion of
the atmosphere is significant.

It is even more fun on Venus which is brighter still and with a modest
telescope you will see a rainbow of different coloured Venuses.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Tue, 27 Mar 2012, Richard Dixon wrote
On Tuesday, March 27, 2012 1:46:15 PM UTC+1, Ian Bingham wrote:

It was probably Sirius. This is the brightest star in the sky, as opposed
to planet, and is in the SW sky these evenings. It does appear to flash red
and green - one book I read said it "flashes with all the colours of the
rainbow" but it's only red and green I seem to see.

Thanks. I was seeing red and green last night (and I'd only had two pints).


I'm sure it was Sirius too. Aren't you in Blackheath? We have roughly
the same view. Sirius has been astonishingly bright lately. It always
seems to me to flash like a diamond - all the spectrum colours. There
was a marvellous evening not so long ago with Venus and Jupiter in the
west, then Sirius in the south-west and Mars in the east, almost in a
row. They are all still visible now - Venus was amazing last night,
perched on the new moon's horn.

--
Kate B

PS nospam means nospam. But umra at cockaigne dot org dot uk will get through!

On Mar 27, 3:11*pm, Kate Brown wrote:
On Tue, 27 Mar 2012, Richard Dixon wrote

On Tuesday, March 27, 2012 1:46:15 PM UTC+1, Ian Bingham wrote:

It was probably Sirius. *This is the brightest star in the sky, as opposed
to planet, and is in the SW sky these evenings. *It does appear to flash red
and green - one book I read said it "flashes with all the colours of the
rainbow" but it's only red and green I seem to see.

Thanks. I was seeing red and green last night (and I'd only had two pints).

I'm sure it was Sirius too. Aren't you in Blackheath? We have roughly
the same view. Sirius has been astonishingly bright lately. It always
seems to me to flash like a diamond - all the spectrum colours. There
was a marvellous evening not so long ago with Venus and Jupiter in the
west, then Sirius in the south-west and Mars in the east, almost in a
row. They are all still visible now - Venus was amazing last night,
perched on the new moon's horn.

--
Kate B

PS nospam means nospam. But umra at cockaigne dot org dot uk will get through!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's not OT.
As Martin said, the twinklin' is due to atmospheric dispersion.
The twinkling is linked with turbidity of the lower atmosphere.
I am sure someone has done a study of this. Wind speed and aerosol
content play their part.
Anyone know of any literature on this?

If you want to be Sirius this evening you will probably see blue in
the twinkle.

Star gazing is a joy in this weather.

Len Wood
Wembury, SW Devon

Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
On Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:11:22 -0700 (PDT), Richard Dixon
wrote:

I realise that astronomy isn't meteorology - but nonetheless - did
anyone else see the star (?) flickering red and green as well as
your common-or-garden white last night towards the south-western
sky? Fascinating. At first I thought it was a plane but that
realised it wasn't moving.

Richard

Try uk.sci.astronomy

Stars don't flicker red and green. It may have been a geostationary
satellite or a planet.

Steve

Steve, the answer to your query (Sirius) has been given elsewhere, but a
couple of points:

1. I do not think that there are any geostationary satellites that are
even close to being visible to the naked eye, and

2. Planets seldom twinkle (the main reason being their apparent diameter
in the range of about 5-50 arc-seconds, compared with that of stars not many
of whose diameters are greater than 0.05 arc-seconds), the usual exception
being Mercury, whose apparent diameter is the smallest of all the classical
planets and is usually viewed when close to the horizon.

Roger

Len Wood wrote:

It's not OT.

Star gazing is a joy in this weather.

Len Wood
Wembury, SW Devon


Seconded Len! Spent a long time watching the Moon, Venus & Jupiter last
night! Venus seemed bright enough to cast a shadow and the Earthshine on the
Moon was stunning!

L