HOLY CRAP!! What did I see last night?

[mikeNdenver]

I woke up at about 4am (mountain time) to let the dog out. While standing in the backyard I couldnt help noticing something strange in the sky. It appeared to be a "bigger than average" size star, very, very bright. It was blinking/twinkling and changing colors. I dont know how else to explain it but it looked like a lightning storm going on around it. It didnt seem to be moving, but after watching it for over 3 hours, it had moved from its original position. It started off in the southeast sky and ended up more south. I dont even know if thats the correct way to explain it. Ive seen satellites, shooting stars and even the space shuttle returning to earth, but ive never seen something like this. I dont have the attention span to sit thru a whole movie, but I watched this light for over 3 hours. The sun was coming out and stars were no longer visible, but I could still see this light, minus the "lightning". Eventually the suns light made it impossible to see. Anyhow, never before have I ever wanted an explanation about something so bad. Does anyone have any idea what I was looking at? I have no idea but I do know that I will be getting up early again today to see if its back/still there. Oh yeah, I'd bet it would help if I told you that I live in Denver Colorado and I was facing south east to see this light. Thanks in advance!

[snodome]

planets tend to be bright and would certainly move over three hours. but... lightning?

could be a clandestine national security project.

[mikeNdenver]

I really thought I was dreaming or seeing things. I went into the house, threw some cold water on my face and put in some Visene, when I wentr back outside, it was still there. Talking with my roommate, who I woke up to see this light, he also said lightning is the best way to describe it. I know very little to nothing at all about astrology, wish I had a better way to describe it. The color changing, blinking/sparkling and "lightning" were constant and erratic. Ive been looking around online and I appear to be the only person bugging out over this. No mention of it anywhere, not even the local news. May be one of those things in life that have no explanation. Frustrating as hell.

[BMAONE23]

Could it have been the tail end if the trail from the Chinese Rocket launch?

[harry]

G'day from the land of ozzzzzz

Sounds quite iteresting.

Maybe we could use this link or other link for people to tells WHAT THE CRAP WAS THAT.

In Sydeny a few years ago I saw a fire ball in the sky, quite big travelling a 300 Km/hr about.

[Chris Peterson]

I woke up at about 4am (mountain time) to let the dog out. While standing in the backyard I couldnt help noticing something strange in the sky. It appeared to be a "bigger than average" size star, very, very bright. It was blinking/twinkling and changing colors.

Almost certainly you were seeing Sirius, which is the brightest star in the sky. At 4am it is low in the SE, below Orion. Especially when it is low, our typical Rocky Mountain atmospherics produce a great deal of scintillation and dispersion, resulting in very colorful twinkling.

[neufer]

I woke up at about 4am (mountain time) to let the dog out. While standing in the backyard I couldnt help noticing something strange in the sky. It appeared to be a "bigger than average" size star, very, very bright. It was blinking/twinkling and changing colors.

Almost certainly you were seeing Sirius, which is the brightest star in the sky. At 4am it is low in the SE, below Orion. Especially when it is low, our typical Rocky Mountain atmospherics produce a great deal of scintillation and dispersion, resulting in very colorful twinkling.

So who let the dogstar out

[Doum]

May be it was something like this.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift ... burst.html

[soldierroxas]

I live in california and i am seeing this thing you are talking about right now in my window but the only thing is that i havent seen any thunder around the place it is a clear sky but still is this bad or is it something that tends to happen because i have never seen anything like this before

[aristarchusinexile]

I'm posting to be notified of replies on this.

Thirty years ago I saw a white light moving across the midnight sky and told my friends it was a satellite .. but then it made a 90 degree turn .. and that got our attention, and we watched as two more of the same white lights made the same ninety degree turn .. I think they were about five minutes apart. Believing in alien visitations as I do I was not really surprised .. more gratified.

[neufer]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070422.html

[aristarchusinexile]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070422.html

How far would the sound of "Kerplop" carry in space?

[neufer]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070422.html

How far would the sound of "Kerplop" carry in space?

More like a "Kerplink" ... unless it hits us:

<<Computer simulations show that 500-meter [long] asteroid Itokawa
may impact the Earth within the next few million years.>>

I just received my Planetary Society Asteroid Poster in the mail
and Itokawa is barely visible as the smallest member:

<<After making this year's Year in Pictures Calendar for sale on Cafe Press he suggested that we set up one of the pages as a poster, and I knew which one to pick. Eric had added Phobos and Deimos (dragging me kicking and screaming -- the pedantic pigeonholer in my head says those are moons, not asteroids, but they do fit well in the size range of the montage, and who am I to argue with what people want?), and he also colorized the images. It's at a glorious 35 by 23 inches (89 by 58 cm), and contains Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos; Asteroids Mathilde, Ida, Dactyl, Eros, Gaspra, Annefrank, Steins, Braille, and Itokawa; and comets Halley, Borelly, Wild 2, and Tempel 1; and, to provide a sense of scale, the International Space Station, CN Tower, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, and Mount Fuji. If you'd like to see it at its full resolution (or surreptitiously print it on your large format printer at work), Eric put it on Flickr too. But if you buy it for $24.99 from Cafe Press, you'll be sending seven bucks to the Society.>>

[aristarchusinexile]

Well I am sorry but when I pay money I want authenticity .. a moon is a moon .. an asteroid an asteroid. If they want to send me one free I can cut the moons out.

[Chris Peterson]

Well I am sorry but when I pay money I want authenticity .. a moon is a moon .. an asteroid an asteroid. If they want to send me one free I can cut the moons out.

Well, one possible fate of an asteroid is being captured as a moon (which is almost certainly what happened in the case of both Phobos and Deimos). So including them (with proper clarification) does help provide a sense of scale. I think most people are surprised when they learn just how un-moonlike that pair really is.

[neufer]

Well, one possible fate of an asteroid is being captured as a moon (which is almost certainly what happened in the case of both Phobos and Deimos). So including them (with proper clarification) does help provide a sense of scale. I think most people are surprised when they learn just how un-moonlike that pair really is.

So if future computer simulations show that asteroid Itokawa WILL impact the Earth in the next few million years we could launch some sort of starship Puppis ("to bodily go where no man has gone before") and attach some tacky solar sail unto Itokawa such that it ends up becoming just another moon of the earth (... a veritable Satellite of Love).

By the light of the silvery moon
I want to spoon
To my honey I'll croon love's tune
Honey moon, keep a-shining in June
Your silvery beams will bring love dreams
We'll be cuddling soon
By the silvery moon

[BMAONE23]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070422.html

How far would the sound of "Kerplop" carry in space?

More like a "Kerplink" ... unless it hits us:

<<Computer simulations show that 500-meter [long] asteroid Itokawa
may impact the Earth within the next few million years.>>

I just received my Planetary Society Asteroid Poster in the mail
and Itokawa is barely visible as the smallest member:

<<After making this year's Year in Pictures Calendar for sale on Cafe Press he suggested that we set up one of the pages as a poster, and I knew which one to pick. Eric had added Phobos and Deimos (dragging me kicking and screaming -- the pedantic pigeonholer in my head says those are moons, not asteroids, but they do fit well in the size range of the montage, and who am I to argue with what people want?), and he also colorized the images. It's at a glorious 35 by 23 inches (89 by 58 cm), and contains Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos; Asteroids Mathilde, Ida, Dactyl, Eros, Gaspra, Annefrank, Steins, Braille, and Itokawa; and comets Halley, Borelly, Wild 2, and Tempel 1; and, to provide a sense of scale, the International Space Station, CN Tower, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, and Mount Fuji. If you'd like to see it at its full resolution (or surreptitiously print it on your large format printer at work), Eric put it on Flickr too. But if you buy it for $24.99 from Cafe Press, you'll be sending seven bucks to the Society.>>

Great idea for an APOD,
Is it available on line in a larger image?

edit

Found it (huge)

[northwestpa]

I see this light or whatever is is also. I am in Northwestern Pennsylvania and on a clear night it can be seen between 10pm and 12am in the eastern sky. I have looked at this through binoculars and have only one word to describe it... Amazing. I thought I was going crazy until I told others about this. They have independently confirmed what I am seeing! Just last night (October 18,2009) at 10:00PM I along with both my mother and father looked at this through binoculars.