[AZ-Observing] Re: odd sighting

  • From: "djwrigley@xxxxxxxx" <djwrigley@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2015 13:12:16 GMT

Thanks, Dean.  That makes sense. Don
---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Ketelsen, Dean A - (ketelsen)" <ketelsen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: odd sighting
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2015 07:00:18 +0000

Since we are nearing equinox, and your observation was near where we see 
geosynchronous satellites, I'm thinking it was a flare from a geo-sat...

-Dean

________________________________________
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] on 
behalf of djwrigley@xxxxxxxx [djwrigley@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2015 11:24 PM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] odd sighting

Hi gang! I don't address this forum very often, but I saw something a bit 
unusual tonight and I was hoping someone could shed a little light on it.About 
an hour ago I happened to be outside looking in the direction of Leo and 
Jupiter when an unexpectedly bright star caught my eye in Hydra.  It was near 
the position where you would normally expect to see Alphard, but it seemed 
brighter than I remembered and there was another somewhat dimmer star only a 
few degrees away.  In fact, I wasn't sure at first which star was Alphard, but 
I was pretty sure that there was only one reasonably bright star in that area.  
I watched them both for several minutes, expecting to see some motion in one of 
them (thinking one of them must be a satellite), but they remained in the same 
position.  I then decided to go in and check my computer's planetarium program 
to see what the two stars were and found that the brighter of the stars was in 
the position where iota Hydrae was supposed to be and the
 dimmer of the two was definitely Alphard.  When I went back outside the 
brighter star was no longer visible (with the naked eye) and Alphard was 
shining at its usual brightness.  I know that there are some suspected variable 
stars in that area (one of them is very near iota), but I have never heard of a 
variable star dimming so quickly.  Could a star flare up and dim that suddenly, 
or is there a better explanation?  I'm not ready to plead insanity yet. Don
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