Nerd alert. But anyone know what if any planets you can see from pendle. Coming down tonight pitch black so plenty of stars out. But two huge orange lights in the sky (no not the sun )

One directly north east. A little lower down than the stars. And then one immediate east. Looked like the North Star but obviously not.

Could be stars. But look bigger, closer and ‘different’ to stars.

cricketfieldclarets wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 18, 2020 10:52 pm

Nerd alert. But anyone know what if any planets you can see from pendle. Coming down tonight pitch black so plenty of stars out. But two huge orange lights in the sky (no not the sun )

One directly north east. A little lower down than the stars. And then one immediate east. Looked like the North Star but obviously not.

Could be stars. But look bigger, closer and ‘different’ to stars.

Stars twinkle. Planets give out a steady light.

Somethingfishy wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 18, 2020 10:54 pm

Stars twinkle. Planets give out a steady light.

Yes. Both the ones I mentioned solid light.

Get the sky scanner app on your phone. Point it at the sky and it'll show you a fully labelled map of everything in that direction.

cricketfieldclarets wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 18, 2020 10:52 pm

Nerd alert. But anyone know what if any planets you can see from pendle. Coming down tonight pitch black so plenty of stars out. But two huge orange lights in the sky (no not the sun )

One directly north east. A little lower down than the stars. And then one immediate east. Looked like the North Star but obviously not.

Could be stars. But look bigger, closer and ‘different’ to stars.

The one to the east is likely Mars if it’s low on the horizon.

Without checking I'm not too sure what is out there at the mo. Mars gives off a reddish light. Venus is very bright. Jupiter is often quite bright too. They are the three brightest.

what_no_pies wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 18, 2020 11:01 pm

Get the sky scanner app on your phone. Point it at the sky and it'll show you a fully labelled map of everything in that direction.

I’m not booking any flights at this time.

martin_p wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 18, 2020 11:02 pm

The one to the east is likely Mars if it’s low on the horizon.

Pretty much bang on east.

Saturn and Jupiter should both be visible to the south if you have a clear night.

Jupiter and Saturn are very clear still

martin_p wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 18, 2020 11:09 pm

Saturn and Jupiter should both be visible to the south if you have a clear night.

Wow. Thanks. Just installed the app. Yes it’s mars.

martin_p wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 18, 2020 11:09 pm

Saturn and Jupiter should both be visible to the south if you have a clear night.

Yep. Spotted them two too. Both close to each other and standing out in direction of Brierfield / Burnley.

Geek i know but that has well impressed me.

You've got a good zoom on that camera.

Three planets quite prominent currently at night. At around midnight from UK, Mars is pretty much due east; Jupiter and Saturn fairly close together due south (Jupiter the brighter of the two ). All at less than 45 degrees elevation but sufficiently above the horizon for a clear view.
Venus is rising in NNE around 02.00 in the morning too, getting quite bright as it gets towards due east but then blotted out by the sun's light when it rises.

I like to try and spot Jupiter's (Galilean) moons with my, not particularly high-spec, binocs (and low spec aging eyesight). Gives you a connection with what happened in 1610ish (just after the invention of optics) with Galileo if you note their changed positions night to night. No ensuing trouble with the Holy Sea for spotting their orbits nowadays.

I havent tried the phone app which I might look at now but "Stellarium" is great for home computer if you download it (free when I did so). You can look at how the sky is in any part of the world at any time (I think you can go back/forward centuries). You can run the digital clock forward with your pointer to see how the stars will move across the sky hour by hour or day by day etc.

cricketfieldclarets wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 18, 2020 11:10 pm

Wow. Thanks. Just installed the app. Yes it’s mars.

You have to wonder what kind of funghi the Greeks ate with their dinner when you see the constellations matched up with some of their given Greek Gods and mythological character's. A bowl of feta stuffed magic mushrooms and 3 stars suddenly become a 12 headed sea monster dog humping Zeus's leg.

Somethingfishy wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 18, 2020 10:54 pm

Stars twinkle. Planets give out a steady light.

Planets "twinkle" to. The twinkle is caused by our atmosphere.

This planet doesn't Twinkle But the residents are quite friendly

Bfcboyo wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 8:41 am

You have to wonder what kind of funghi the Greeks ate with their dinner when you see the constellations matched up with some of their given Greek Gods and mythological character's. A bowl of feta stuffed magic mushrooms and 3 stars suddenly become a 12 headed sea monster dog humping Zeus's leg.

I had Stellarium on my old phone but it didn't have enough juice in it for an enjoyable experience. On my new phone, however, it's such a joy to play around with, no lag, precise and fluid etc. Earlier this year in March my mum and dad came to visit and he brought with him a telescope he picked up at Aldi, it was incredible to see The Pleiades (seven sisters) and just how many stars in this constellation that became visible with a 30 quid telescope, I must have counted well over 20. Venus was great to look at too, you could see the sun shining on it and the rest of the planet in shadow. I'd never bothered to get into the night sky up until that point and now I'm finding it all fascinating. In April, at around 6am, I was sat on the sofa in my usual spot, the same spot I watch the footy, browse the internet, feed my daughter, have a round of Rocket League on the Playstation etc and all I had to do was turn my head to look out of the window and there they were all in a line, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter with the moon just below. It was quite humbling.

If you look straight down, and it isn't too foggy on Pendle, you should be able to make out Earth

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/night/

This Web page is quite good for identifying what's visible.

4:20 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 1:07 pm

I had Stellarium on my old phone but it didn't have enough juice in it for an enjoyable experience. On my new phone, however, it's such a joy....

Do you have the premium App?

4:20 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 1:07 pm

I had Stellarium on my old phone but it didn't have enough juice in it for an enjoyable experience. On my new phone, however, it's such a joy to play around with, no lag, precise and fluid etc. Earlier this year in March my mum and dad came to visit and he brought with him a telescope he picked up at Aldi, it was incredible to see The Pleiades (seven sisters) and just how many stars in this constellation that became visible with a 30 quid telescope, I must have counted well over 20. Venus was great to look at too, you could see the sun shining on it and the rest of the planet in shadow. I'd never bothered to get into the night sky up until that point and now I'm finding it all fascinating. In April, at around 6am, I was sat on the sofa in my usual spot, the same spot I watch the footy, browse the internet, feed my daughter, have a round of Rocket League on the Playstation etc and all I had to do was turn my head to look out of the window and there they were all in a line, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter with the moon just below. It was quite humbling.

MoonApr15th20.jpg

Nice. I had a telescope as a kid. Was always a geek with this sort of thing (dinosaurs being another )

The Observatory at the dark centre in Ayrshire is meant to be brilliant.

Jupiter, Saturn and mars all currently about 30/40 degrees off the horizon in the southern sky.

Dazzler wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 4:07 pm

Do you have the premium App?

I don't, Dazzler, I'm only a basic casual user at present, I've read that Stellarium without the premium is good enough to get by with. What keeps on cropping up in discussions, though, is SkySafari and how this app, especially the premium version, has much more meat on the bones than what Stellarium Plus has to offer. I'll end up getting a half decent telescope at some point, I'm sure of it, then I'll get a premium version of some description I think.

What's the one on a morning at 4 am (when I'm going fishing) that looks like a spaceship it's so bright? Fairly low to the horizon. Always looks like a plane light but never moves.

dougcollins wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:00 pm

What's the one on a morning at 4 am (when I'm going fishing) that looks like a spaceship it's so bright? Fairly low to the horizon. Always looks like a plane light but never moves.

Probably Venus.

martin_p wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:02 pm

Probably Venus.

I'll wave to her tomorrow.

dougcollins wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:00 pm

What's the one on a morning at 4 am (when I'm going fishing) that looks like a spaceship it's so bright? Fairly low to the horizon. Always looks like a plane light but never moves.

Easy one that. Its the constellation of Queen Pasiphae inside a wooden cow getting rattled off a bull she was cursed to love by an angry Greek god.

4:20 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 9:17 pm

I don't, Dazzler, I'm only a basic casual user at present, I've read that Stellarium without the premium is good enough to get by with. What keeps on cropping up in discussions, though, is SkySafari and how this app, especially the premium version, has much more meat on the bones than what Stellarium Plus has to offer. I'll end up getting a half decent telescope at some point, I'm sure of it, then I'll get a premium version of some description I think.

Graphics are fantastic but it doesn't auto rotate like sky map and not as accurate.
One more thing,I have to restart my phone to come out of the damn thing.

I'll stick to my sky map.

Thanks.

cricketfieldclarets wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 5:35 pm

Nice. I had a telescope as a kid. Was always a geek with this sort of thing (dinosaurs being another )

The Observatory at the dark centre in Ayrshire is meant to be brilliant.

The names of capital cities around the world was my geek childhood thing, my dad would say "what's the capital of New Zealand?" and I'd think of wellies splashing in the puddles and shout "Wellington!", I was only about 6 ha ha. I think this was my spur to do a load of backpacking in my 20s.

That observatory visit looks great, what a good idea, got me looking at places in France. There's one in the Pyrenees €439 for an all inclusive double room 1 night, tour and use of the telescope or 45€ each for a day visit

https://picdumidi.com/

4:20 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 20, 2020 2:19 pm

The names of capital cities around the world was my geek childhood thing, my dad would say "what's the capital of New Zealand?" and I'd think of wellies splashing in the puddles and shout "Wellington!", I was only about 6 ha ha. I think this was my spur to do a load of backpacking in my 20s.

That observatory visit looks great, what a good idea, got me looking at places in France. There's one in the Pyrenees €439 for an all inclusive double room 1 night, tour and use of the telescope or 45€ each for a day visit

https://picdumidi.com/

Same. And flags. Saddo. I couldn’t tell you what I had for tea but could tell you the capital of Sudan and pick out the flag of Mozambique at about 8

nonayclaret wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 1:32 pm

If you look straight down, and it isn't too foggy on Pendle, you should be able to make out Earth

And if you run around in circles quick enough you’ll see Uranus and a full moon at the same time.