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[Galaxy]

Has anyone on here heard about the red, white and blue flashing star in the west to northwest? My son in eastern Idaho told me about it. It appears stationary, is very bright and changes colors. He said it's all over the internet and people the world over are asking questions about it. I couldn't see it myself. Can anyone tell me what it is? Thanks.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Cat,

Without more direct info, I can only speculate.

I took a search of the topic and they are all generic and unspecific. This is one of the better ones:

I've been noticing a star as described like the one in this thread as well. Over the past 6-12 months at least. I'll see it once a week or so, (if I happen to be awake between 2-5am). But tonight, it was flashing A LOT brighter than usual. It must be a star because of the fact that it "flickers". Can't be an airplane because it has an exact orbit on a monthly basis and doesn't disappear after 30 minutes or not at all. You can see it all night.

By the way, this is my position of observance- I'm in central Florida & I always see it at night time after midnight. Tonight I saw it @ 4am, stood there for 20 minutes, and it never went away. I tell you, it's freakin awesome. Brightest thing I've ever seen in the sky besides the moon. It's even craizier than airplane or helicopter lights. When I look at it, I'm facing east southeast, (I'd say the compass bearing is 100 degrees +/- 20 degrees @ it's height above the horizon at the time was about 20 degrees at 4am eastern.

It's very interesting surely. I have no idea what it is. Maybe planet X/Nibiru? If so, then that means planet x is not a planet; it would be a binary star. It's definetly not a UFO or an airplane, (I'm a pilot...I should know). One source on the internet describes the possibility of it being a Supernova. That hypoothesis is very plausible as well.

I don't believe that it is anything unusual and with the limited info available...I would say it's the star "Antares" in Scorpio - low in the south. Flickering different colors due to the atmospheric refraction disturbances. Could be Saturn as well, but I believe it's Antares.

But you mention it's in the W NW, and that would put the star Regulus in position for the sighting. The lower it gets to the horizon, the more it will flicker.

________________

Side note: Here is a far out Theory....

I heard on a radio program that our Sun is part of a Binary system - with the companion being a brown dwarf, (Nibiru ?), in a 3, 600 year orbital period. In that it is coming back around, in synch with the Mayan calendar or...2012. The mysterious object is supposed to be coming up from the southern hemisphere in a right angle orbit to the Sun and and making first appearance through the Sagittarius constellation.

Maybe what smacked into Jupiter recently was debris influenced by this object?

I doubt it, but let's keep looking.

_____________

If you hear more on this, let us know, but I shall make some observations this evening and see if I can catch this multicolored object others have been seeing.

[nicole becker]

Hello! My family and I have been seeing the Red, white and Blue flashing star almost every night. Some nights it is so large that we can view it with binoculars. There are horizontal and vertical balls of the above mentioned colors swirling around it, at an irregular pace. Also there are 2-3 other stars of question in the sky that are a solid golden color that appear to be related to it's passage. What ever it is, it is abnormal and my children are freaking out about it, because it looks like a space ship, but I feel it is related to the planetary alignment that is about to happen. It upsets me that the government has not addressed it's presence. Obviously it can't be ignored too much longer.
- Ashtabula County Ohio

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Nicole,

Thank you for the inquiry on the Chicago Astronomer.

Without more detail, (altitude, direction, time of observation), I would say what you are viewing is Venus, low in the West now and very bright. Venus never gets very high in the sky, as some other planets do, but is the brightest object aside from the Sun and Moon.

Nothing extraordinary or alien, but just the atmospheric disturbance that is causing the colors and apparent movements...as the light from the object passes through a large amount of air...and the closer it gets to the horizon, the more jumbled it will get.

I would be interested in more details on what you are seeing.

Astro Joe

[Centaur]

Mar 30, 2010 8:46:49 GMT -6 @nicole becker said:

Hello! My family and I have been seeing the Red, white and Blue flashing star almost every night. Some nights it is so large that we can view it with binoculars. There are horizontal and vertical balls of the above mentioned colors swirling around it, at an irregular pace. Also there are 2-3 other stars of question in the sky that are a solid golden color that appear to be related to it's passage. What ever it is, it is abnormal and my children are freaking out about it, because it looks like a space ship, but I feel it is related to the planetary alignment that is about to happen. It upsets me that the government has not addressed it's presence. Obviously it can't be ignored too much longer.
- Ashtabula County Ohio

Welcome to the discussion group, Nicole.

What is there for the government to address? Planets and stars are quite normal objects in the sky. As Joe indicated, when they appear near the horizon, atmospheric turbulence and refraction can produce rapid changes in brightness and colors. Again, that’s quite ordinary, and school children are taught the causes. The government isn’t going to issue any alarms.

Such wonderment occurs every year when the weather starts to warm up and people start gazing at the evening sky again. It also occurs every 1.6 years when Venus reenters our evening sky as the so-called “evening star”. Just calmly enjoy nature’s spectacle; there’s no need for anxiety or wild speculation.

I’m not sure what you meant by “large”; did you actually mean “bright”? Were these objects moving quickly, or simply drifting slowly with the rest of the stars as the Earth rotates. As Joe suggests, if you tell us the directions in which you see these objects, their elevations in degrees about the horizon, and the times of observation, we could probably allay your fears and identify the objects.

The planetary alignment to which you are referring may be that of Venus and Mercury in the western sky after sunset. Venus is by far the brighter. In fact as Joe notes, Venus is the brightest celestial object other than the Sun and Moon. The two planets' closest apparent approach to each other this spring of 3° (width of 6 Full Moons) will occur during Easter weekend. Mars and Saturn are also in the evening sky, as is the brightest fixed star, Sirius.

Visit my webpage for the planets, which provides diagrams I've created that may be helpful in identifying Venus and Mercury: www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html

[Centaur]

Jul 26, 2009 21:18:04 GMT -6 Galaxy said:

Has anyone on here heard about the red, white and blue flashing star in the west to northwest? My son in eastern Idaho told me about it. It appears stationary, is very bright and changes colors. He said it's all over the internet and people the world over are asking questions about it. I couldn't see it myself. Can anyone tell me what it is? Thanks.

It’s not made clear what time of night that observation was made last July. Based on the time of the posting I will assume during the evening. In that case it was probably either Saturn or the star Regulus. If it was around midnight, then it was likely the star Arcturus. If before dawn it could have been the star Vega.

[Paulie pchris00]

I think anybody who spends a lot of time staring at the sky is bound to see something that they cannot explain easily, especially when their viewing is enhanced by a telescope. But those unexplained occurances will be quite rare compared to the number of hours spent looking through a telescope, or at the whole sky without one.

Based on limited information, my best guess, Nicole, is that you are seeing Venus, but as Joe and Curt have already pointed out, direction, time and altitude information would be helpful. I have seen nothing unusual lately, but I am well aware of what exactly IS usual, including the constellations visible at a given time, the positions of the planets, and most of the flight patterns over my house.

Nicole, my best advice is to get acquainted with what is normal over the sky at your home, and possibly borrow binoculars or a telescope from a friend. I think you will discover that what you've been seeing is explained by fairly simple observations.

[Jason]

i work overnight in south jersey and i've been whitnessing this "star" in the sky for the past few weeks. i work at a trucking company so our parking lot is huge and has many lights. i can only make out a few stars with all the "noise" in the area, but i have a large veiw of the night sky when i'm outside. with all the surrounding lights i'm able to make out only a couple dozen of the brightest stars in the sky. this one is the only on that rapidly changes colors from what looks like white-red-blue maybe even green. i'm not looking through any scope so it's hard to say for sure. all i know is that the star is always where it was the previous night and is always stationary and blinks like no other start in the sky. if it helps, it has 2 other stars near it at it's upper-right, spaced sort of like an obtuse triangle with the star in question being the bottom star of the triangle. i want to think that it's just a star, but it's the first one ive ever seen of that nature and i can't find any straight answers as to what it might be.... it's not a planet, i know that at least. a planet would not change color like that or that rapidly. if it's a supernova, one would think that it would have changed at least a liitle bit in the past few weeks, but it's the same thing every time i look at it

[Jason]

i failed to mention that what i'm seeing appears to be in the northern sky to where i'm located

[Centaur]

Welcome to the discussion group, Jason.

Contrary to urban legends and grade school lessons, planets can indeed twinkle, flash and change colors when close to the horizon, even when higher during certain types of atmospheric conditions. Nowadays due to increasing pollution those conditions occur much more frequently than when some older textbooks were written. There are no supernovas currently visible to naked eyes. You don’t state the time of night that you are observing, which leaves wide open the possibilities of planets and bright stars. You say it’s in the north, which is a bit puzzling. During the evenings this month brilliant Venus is in the west-northwest. Recently it has been passing near the bright stars Castor and Pollux, which may have formed the triangle you describe. Extremely bright Jupiter is in the predawn eastern sky. The very bright star Capella does get quite close to the north point on the horizon during June nights.

If you go to my astronomical webpage at www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html and then click to the page for the Inferior Planets, you will find a number of my graphics related to Venus. Perhaps something there will tell you whether Venus is your culprit. It usually is when novices ask about a bright “star”; it’s far and away the brightest celestial object other than the Sun and Moon. Unlike the previous two questioners in this thread that we tried to help, please follow up with another report.

[patrickm]

Centaur is right. Without a little more info it is hard to gauge, but three brightest objects are Arcturus (high SE to SW and very yellow), Venus which is blazingly bright in WNW and follows the sun down in early evening, twinkling all the way, and Vega which comes up in the east and is almost overhead at sunrise. It is white but twinkling. Sounds to me like one of the latter two, but a little more info on time and object location should help tremendously.

If you enjoy the night sky, grab a pair of binocs and a free skymap and enjoy your next 15 minute break!
www.skymaps.com/downloads.html
Welcome to the group,
Patrick

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I would lay odds that Jason is observing Vega.

It rises northeast, part of the "Summer Triangle" and pretty bright.

We will need more details, (elevation, time etc...).

But, if it were anything extraordinary, it would be all over the astro news.

[Paulie pchris00]

Patrick, I found those same star maprs a couple days agao, and emailed them to an acquaintance who I got hooked into astronomy. They're not the most convenient for me, but I figured she would do well to use them, especially since they're free.

As for the twinkly thing, all of the above possibilities are good, so I have nothing more to add.

[patrickm]

Jun 16, 2010 18:48:39 GMT -6 Paulie pchris00 said:

Patrick, I found those same star maprs a couple days agao, and emailed them to an acquaintance who I got hooked into astronomy. They're not the most convenient for me, but I figured she would do well to use them, especially since they're free.

they're the ones I send to everybody who has a passing interest. I really like the listing of easy to spot stuff and how they are broken down. I took them to Peru as well, along with strategically printed CalSky days, and they worked wonderfully for me with other super amateurs on the few clear days nights we had.

Plus they're free.

[Jayme]

OK, i have been seeing this strange star? guessing that is what it is. Googled it and found this site. I am a little late getting in the discussion but, very interested as to what it might be. I have noticed it for a lil over a week now, not sure how long it has been there but i am just now seeing it. It is very very very bright "twinkling" red blue green. It usually does not show until around 11 (North Carolina)

[Centaur]

Sept 10, 2010 22:38:25 GMT -6 @Jayme said:

OK, i have been seeing this strange star? guessing that is what it is. Googled it and found this site. I am a little late getting in the discussion but, very interested as to what it might be. I have noticed it for a lil over a week now, not sure how long it has been there but i am just now seeing it. It is very very very bright "twinkling" red blue green. It usually does not show until around 11 (North Carolina)

Welcome to the discussion group, Jayme. In order to help you we need to know the direction you were facing and the approximate altitude of the star in degrees above the horizon (90° is straight up). A more precise time and location in North Carolina would be helpful. Is it the brightest star in the sky at that time? If so, it is the planet Jupiter which rises in the east and then veers toward the south. If not, your answers to my questions will help to determine which star it actually is. The nearer a star or planet is to the horizon, the more likely it is to twinkle and shift colors due to its light passing through much unstable air, water vapor and dust before reaching your eyes.

[bruce]

I live in southwestern Ohio and I have seen the same thing the last couple of evenings. At first I thought it was an airplane since I saw the flashes of red and green but it didn't move for over 20 to 30 minutes. Tonight at 11:00 I watched it for about ten minutes in the north, northwest sky at approximately 20 to 30 degrees above the horizon. I went out 45 minutes later and it had moved further to the west and was a little higher in the sky. I'm sure it is a star or planet and it is just the refraction of the light through the atmosphere I was just wondering which planet or star it was since it appeared to much brighter than most.

[Centaur]

Sept 14, 2010 21:45:45 GMT -6 @bruce said:

I live in southwestern Ohio and I have seen the same thing the last couple of evenings. At first I thought it was an airplane since I saw the flashes of red and green but it didn't move for over 20 to 30 minutes. Tonight at 11:00 I watched it for about ten minutes in the north, northwest sky at approximately 20 to 30 degrees above the horizon. I went out 45 minutes later and it had moved further to the west and was a little higher in the sky. I'm sure it is a star or planet and it is just the refraction of the light through the atmosphere I was just wondering which planet or star it was since it appeared to much brighter than most.

Welcome to the discussion group, Bruce.

Due west is azimuth 270°, and halfway from horizon to zenith is altitude 45°. A Full Moon is 0.5° wide. Tonight (Tuesday) at 23:00 from Cincinnati the brightest fixed star (not planet) in the sky at that time, Arcturus, was at azimuth 291.3° (near west-northwest) and an altitude of 4.4°. At 23:10 it was at azimuth 291.8° and altitude 2.7°. When you went out again at 23:55, Arcturus had already set. At that time the next brightest fixed star, Vega, was a little west (left) of where Arcturus had been earlier, at azimuth 285.5° and much higher at altitude 52.4°. Arcturus is imperceptibly brighter than Vega.

[Bruce]

I apologize, I am usually much better with directions. I, for some reason said it was in the north, north-west sky and that it moved further to the west. Correction, it was in the north, north-east sky and moved further to the east. I guess without the sun to show me the way I can't remember which way is east or west. Sorry for the confusion and trouble. It's kind of funny I had to explain the whole light spectrum thing to my wife but she had to point out the fact that I was headed in the wrong direction. Ha Ha.

[Centaur]

Sept 15, 2010 19:02:18 GMT -6 @Bruce said:

I apologize, I am usually much better with directions. I, for some reason said it was in the north, north-west sky and that it moved further to the west. Correction, it was in the north, north-east sky and moved further to the east. I guess without the sun to show me the way I can't remember which way is east or west. Sorry for the confusion and trouble. It's kind of funny I had to explain the whole light spectrum thing to my wife but she had to point out the fact that I was headed in the wrong direction. Ha Ha.

In that case, Bruce, you were looking at Capella, the next brightest star after Vega.

[quickdraw]

Hi, new to the site, just found it because of the star in question. I live in WV, western portion along the Ohio river. I saw the flashing star a month or so ago while I was outside looking for the meteor shower, (saw about 6 or 7 meteors that night), anyhow, the star in question from my location is approx. 45 to 60 degrees east of due north, and approx. 15 degrees above the horizon, in my location at 10:30-11:00 pm edt. Google sky on my cell phone appears to list the star as Capella. The only thing I have found about Capella is that it is yellow. My wife still says it is an airplane, but it does not move and is in the same location for the past few weeks. Interesting topic, and thanks for the information.

[patrickm]

Sept 10, 2010 22:51:29 GMT -6 Centaur said:

The nearer a star or planet is to the horizon, the more likely it is to twinkle and shift colors due to its light passing through much unstable air, water vapor and dust before reaching your eyes.

Hi and welcome.

Arcturus is indeed a yellow star, but we also have a ton of atmosphere between us and outer space! As Centaur says, except for pulsars and such, it is not the star that's doing the twinkling, it is the light coming through the atmosphere that makes it appear that way to the eye.

The closer to the horizon, the more likely this effect it. Views of astronomical targets are affected by amount of atmosphere between your eye and the target (higher in the sky the better), atmospheric temperature and turbulence gradients (the more steady the better), the amount of humidity in the atmosphere (less the better), cloud cover and haze, and of course ambient and direct light (street lights, city sky glow, a full moon).

Your most likely culprit is the star that Google is showing you. It should gradually move from east to west over the course of the night with the other stars around it, though much, much slower than a plane! I have tracked in my binos what I thought was the space station only to have it suddenly turn directly toward me, blinding me with its landing lights! No International Space Station (or star) has flashing green and red lights!!

Give it a view and check back on it in an hour or so and see of it has moved in a predictable manner. Please let us know your results!

Thanks for checking in and we hope that you will poke around elsewhere on this forum and ask questions or offer your own opinions and viewing experiences, even if just with the naked eye.
Best,
Patrick

[Centaur]

Welcome to the discussion group, quickdraw.

Indeed, you seem to have discovered Capella. We get questions about that one about this time every year. As you’ve probably learned from this thread, twinkling and apparent color changes are normal, especially when a star is near the horizon. Folks often glance at a bright star or planet for a split second and quickly dismiss it as an airplane. Then someone asks them to stare at it for awhile, and its appearing somewhat stationary leaves them at a loss for an explanation. Of course Capella does appear to shift position very slowly as the Earth rotates.

[MichaelTurner]

Ok i am looking at this star right now it is 11:46pm mountain time i live in Grand Junction CO the star is directly north about 45 degrees up or about halfway up from the horizon

[Centaur]

Sept 30, 2010 23:53:50 GMT -6 @MichaelTurner said:

Ok i am looking at this star right now it is 11:46pm mountain time i live in Grand Junction CO the star is directly north about 45 degrees up or about halfway up from the horizon

Welcome to the discussion group, Michael.

I will assume that is 11:46 pm MDT. Is the object bright? Is its brightness fairly steady? Does it seem fairly still, at least for a few minutes? If some of the answers are no, then it could be an artificial satellite.

The only celestial body really close to that location in the sky was Polaris (the North Star), and it is only moderately bright. The quite bright star Vega would have been nearly halfway up in the west-northwest. The extremely bright planet Jupiter was slightly more than halfway up, but not far from due south.

[MichaelTurner]

It seemed pretty steady the brightness was low and looked far way I am looking at the same star now. It is 1:00 in the morning the star is now 35% from the horizon and is north east in the sky it is very bright and seems a lot closer it is also flashing really fast it is hard to make out the blue and white flashes all i can see good is a bunch of red flashes

[MichaelTurner]

I was also using a compass that i have on my phone it works ok but not 100% accurate

Oct 1, 2010 1:08:15 GMT -6 @MichaelTurner said:

It seemed pretty steady the brightness was low and looked far way I am looking at the same star now. It is 1:00 in the morning the star is now 35% from the horizon and is north east in the sky it is very bright and seems a lot closer it is also flashing really fast it is hard to make out the blue and white flashes all i can see good is a bunch of red flashes

[MichaelTurner]

I am not the smartest person but i am sure my measurements are off i am surrounded by mountain tops so i cant see the horizon makes it hard to judge sorry

Oct 1, 2010 1:16:58 GMT -6 Centaur said:

Oct 1, 2010 1:08:15 GMT -6 @MichaelTurner said:

It seemed pretty steady the brightness was low and looked far way I am looking at the same star now. It is 1:00 in the morning the star is now 35% from the horizon and is north east in the sky it is very bright and seems a lot closer it is also flashing really fast it is hard to make out the blue and white flashes all i can see good is a bunch of red flashes

At that time the quite bright star Capella would have been a little more than halfway up in your east-northeast. If the temperature of the air is varying significantly with altitude, that can produce scintillation, i.e. twinkling and color changes.

[Centaur]

Oct 1, 2010 1:18:47 GMT -6 @MichaelTurner said:

I was also using a compass that i have on my phone it works ok but not 100% accurate

Oct 1, 2010 1:08:15 GMT -6 @MichaelTurner said:

It seemed pretty steady the brightness was low and looked far way I am looking at the same star now. It is 1:00 in the morning the star is now 35% from the horizon and is north east in the sky it is very bright and seems a lot closer it is also flashing really fast it is hard to make out the blue and white flashes all i can see good is a bunch of red flashes

For your location at 1:00 am MDT that was definitely the bright star Capella a little less than halfway up near the northeast.

[michaelturner]

Thanks so much for you help tho i kind of wish it was a satellite i see stars all the time a satellite i have never seen atleast i never knew it if i had. I plan on getting a nice telescope one day. Have any suggestions on a good starter one at a fair price?