Starship Asterisk*

I was in South Dakota studying the sky just before dawn on May 4 or 5, 2008. I'm an amateur astronomer at best, but I was showing a buddy of mine two planets (I thought), one of which I thought was certainly Venus and the other perhaps Saturn or Jupiter when what I thought was Saturn/Jupiter disappeared. It had been very stationary for at least two minutes. We had watched satellites move across its path. Any thoughts on what we saw? A supernova, perhaps?

Hello Dodd

Maybe satellites

Never know

Thanks, Harry. Perhaps a satellite, if it were geosynchronous, very bright, and then lost illumination suddenly. This event was not subtle. In fact, it was dramatic enough to keep me interested/looking for answers. Will keep y'all posted. D

"Tiny Star Unleashes Huge Explosion"

This was from 16 light year away.
So you might have seen something like this?

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 ... -star.html

"It would have been visible to the naked eye if the star had been easily observable in the night sky at the time. EV Lacertae's constellation, Lacerta, is visible in the spring for only a few hours each night in the Northern Hemisphere."

G'day


Thank you doum
I had a look at

Tiny Star Unleashes Huge Explosion
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 ... -star.html

Shining with only 1 percent of the sun's light and boasting just a third of the sun's mass, this run-of-the-mill star previously was nothing to write home about. On April 25, the red dwarf star, known as EV Lacertae, unleashed a mega-flare, packing the power of thousands of solar flares. Since the star is located 16 light-years away, in reality, the flare actually occurred 16 years ago.

The explanation provided does not add up.

If its 1% of the sun's light, it most probably housing a compact core, which would explain the low intensity of light and the extra ordinary solar flare. Prime example of a Z-pinch effect.

Hi Harry,

"Osten says giant flares like this one are analogous to solar flares, but stellar flares are hundreds and sometimes thousands of times more powerful. The extra power likely comes from the stars' magnetic fields. For instance, EV Lacertae rotates once every four days, much faster than the sun's four-week rotation. The star's quick rotation generates strong localized magnetic fields, about 100 times as powerful as the sun's. "

It seem to add up to me. Anyway the theory. What Dodd might have seen might have come from another small star having that same flare. It might be something else too.

It was just a suggestion. But if he saw that, (and we may never know), then he is lucky to have witness such an event. Be very happy Dodd.

G'day Doum

You said

"Osten says giant flares like this one are analogous to solar flares, but stellar flares are hundreds and sometimes thousands of times more powerful. The extra power likely comes from the stars' magnetic fields. For instance, EV Lacertae rotates once every four days, much faster than the sun's four-week rotation. The star's quick rotation generates strong localized magnetic fields, about 100 times as powerful as the sun's. "

Some jets are more than a billion times that of the Sun's

It's ok to say that the magnetic fields gives the power.

The question is HOW?

So! Doum google for Jets formed by Z-pinch. It is the cutting edge info.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback. I am very happy to have seen whatever we saw, because it has made me all the more interested in the skies above... and below, for that matter. This Georgia/USA boy recently saw the Southern Cross for the first time on a visit to Argentina. Very cool. Keep looking up. D

G'day

I thought this may interest someone.

Super-luminous supernovae
Astronomers have found a possible signature of an explosive conversion of a neutron star into a quark star.

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=7037