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!

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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