night sky Definition and 39 Threads

Ok so this video was recorded in Oxnard, CA on 1/15/2024@8:39pm (I actually know the precise location, if you need it for accurate interpretation of the video, ask for it and I will PM you the address). It was recorded on an iPad 7. The rectangular yellow lights are windows of a nearby house and...

Orion setting in the west.

I finally got around to watching the movie "Avatar", which takes place in the Alpha Centauri system. I was thinking that a great little scene between the 2 main characters (i.e., the paraplegic Earthling and the Centauri woman) would have been looking up at the night sky and seeing Sol as a...

Hello there, first let me say I hope this is the right section for this topic, and if not please feel free to move it! So a couple days ago I took a trip up to Mackinaw City, Michigan, and saw a few interesting and intriguing things (luckily!) in the sky that night, and was just hoping maybe...

Howdy all. Regarding the phenomenon of radiative night sky cooling, where an object (such as a blackbody) on the surface of the planet cools via radiating energy into space: can the cooling be ascribed to the transmittance of the radiation through the atmosphere (as such a clearer night with...

Summary: Can black means many thing? The black we see in night sky has to mean many things First of all, from point of views of human eyes then the photons can't reach our eyes so it appears black. Secondly, the objects appear smaller as we go farther from that object. So, at some point object...

There is supposed to be a meteor shower tonight, so I was looking up at the sky, and saw something that at first I thought could be one, but it moved too slowly, so I watched as it danced in a zig zag across the sky, as high as a star, appearing as a star, yet floating slowly enough through the...

I'm the farthest thing in the world from an expert, but I've seen the usual number of pictures and Discovery Channel programs... and I never saw anything like I saw last night (8-1): I'm in San Diego, California. I went outside Tuesday night a little bit after 11 PM, and was casually looking...

hi. i am from sydney australia. over the xmas holidays i spent some time in tasmania, and had a very memorable night sleeping on a 1300m high mountain with 360° veiws and crystal clear night. i stayed awake all night hoping to see the southern lights but no luck. however i did see something else...

I was doing my usual untargeted tour of the sky last night and checking the objects I'm now familiar with when I saw a new twinkle down on the NE horizon. The binoculars made it look interesting so I looked at it with my telescope. What a fantastic fairyland of light. No wonder the Pleiades are...

Janus submitted a new PF Insights post How Representative is the Night Sky? Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

I was thinking about adding another page to my website concerning the nearest stars, the brightest stars, etc. In a list of the nearest stars, the vast majority are brighter than the Sun. (I looked for stars with an absolute magnitude that was greater than the Sun's (4.85) and had a visual...

What would be the propable trajectory and position of the ninth planet that has been suggested few days ago (20.1.2016 by Konstantin Batygin and Michael E. Brown) ? if i understood correctly, the exact position of the planet is unknown and has not been evaluated. But by looking this article...

Hi! :) This is my first message here. The reason I joined this forum is because there are some knowledgeable people here who might be able to shed some light on an observation that I cannot explain. It happened during the night of July 28, 2013, at around midnight, and it still keeps me...

Well today my mother got a pretty nice camera, she's been wanting one for a while and what better way to test it then getting some shots of the moon! This is the best photo she could get, the rest were very shaky and we're probably going to invest in a tripod. I also went out with my cheapy...

I've had a telescope for a few years. I know pretty basic stuff - and I can easily find planets when they are in the sky (mostly because I know Venus is around sunrise/sunset, and Jupiter & Saturn are non-twinkling bright objects in the sky). I know a few constellations - Cassiopeia, Orion, Ursa...

I was wondering about how much of the night sky one could see from various locations on the Earth. At anyone time, near sea level, how much is visible? My guess is that much less than half is visible, with the rest being blocked from view by the earth. Is that correct? How small a portion...

Here are my two questions: 1) When i look up to a night sky, do i see mostly stars and galaxy's rather then planets? Here is my logic: Since star is many many times more brighter then reflected light of planets i see brightest object and since we are looking form Earth planets and stars...

Wouldn't do me any good. I live in the middle of a major city, and, the last time I looked at the night sky at my true local astronomical midnight, it looked like God had turned out the lights.

Mysterious Night Sky Object - Help!? Well, I've commented on others' questions on a number of occasions, but something just occurred which has thrown me for a loop, and I could really use an opinion or two. I've been into amateur astronomy for 43 years, and have seen any number of very...

Venus' synodic period is 583.92 days. Does that mean that Venus is 583.92/2 days the evening star and 583.92/2 days the morning star (with some period in between when it's probably to close to the sun to be visible)? What I want to know is some kind of formula so that I know where and when to...

Assuming, of course, that we simply rescaled our color perspectives so that longest wavelengths = red, shortest wavelengths = violet. Are there any such pictures?

Hey guys. I want to get started in looking at the night sky from my roof etc etc. I was thinking of getting Celestron SkyMaster Giant 15x70 Binoculars with a tripod as a starting tool which is only about $70-80. I don't want to buy a $4,000 telescope without knowing what I'm looking for lol...

When I look into space, I can't make it out, but I am looking at so much. It depresses me to that I may never know what's out there, that all of the questions I have may never be answered. Does anyone else feel this way?

Hi, for all of you we´ve made new user-friendly interactive 3D model of solar system and night sky with real-time planet´s positions. http://www.solarsystemscope.com/ (requires flash) Application in a simple way helps students and laymen to understand the movements of the planets and...

So I just got my dads old telescope out, cleaned it, and installed new motors and cleaned the primary and secondary mirrors, and it's ready for use! It's a reflector with a 4-3/8" primary mirror, and I wonder: what can I see with this thing (besides the moon, obviously)? I know this is a super...

Firstly, sorry if this is a stupid question but I was just wondering if there's a way I can tell if the night sky is observable where I'm living, Dubai. I really want to get a telescope but it'll be a waste if I can't even use it here. Where I live, I wouldn't say that there's too much...

http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-11.802834233547672&longitude=20.91796875&zoom=6&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=2&mI=1&oI=0" as the title indicates what is that thing near moon?

One summer night in 2005 I was out on my roof with a couple of my friends, and the sky was perfectly clear. We could see thousands of stars, it was amazing. We were in the countryside far away from any city lights. Well, the entire night we were just star gazing and every 5 minutes we...

Do you think this is an effect of the night scopes? or is there some other phenominon going on here. I give the video 100% credability, as it seems several observers see the same thing... what are they seeing. Seems the brightest is over the biggest city.

I have a basic question regarding black body cooling. Suppose a person at sea level on a clear night, were to use a hot water solar panel which is a good black body, and contain it in a box in a vacuum with a 'window' that was very good at transmission of long wave ir 'looking' only at the sky...

The night sky in my area does seem clearer of late, even with the multi giga watt street/road lights shining bright many stars can be seen, is this true across the uk?

Im living in India, and I've just got a telescope, what constellations could I see? And how do I go about checking them out?

I want to learn about the night sky and the data about constilation so when I look at the sky I could figure out which star belongs to (x) constilation and its relative position with others... Is there any link which can help me out? Thanks for your help

i saw summin last night it whoosshed past, i was just looking out the window at the stars it was a really clear night and then i saw it i don't kno what it was a comet? or a rock or something falling to earth. but it made me feel better, i was feeling upset before. around quarter to 9.

Average luminosity of night sky vs frequency... What is the average luminosity of the night sky in all observable wavelengths, from the shortest down to the longest? Are there estimations/approximations anywhere of average luminosity plotted against wavelength? Are there links to papers that...

I woke up at 4:30 PST (San Diego) and couldn't go back to sleep so I decided to take my telescope out and finally check out Saturn, the Orion Nebula, and Mars again. They looked awesome through the 8" telescope and I wish I was able to take pictures. Then around 5:30 I saw a really bright object...

Not quite sure where this post should go so I'm putting it here. My wife and I were walking the dog the other night and looking toward scorpio we saw a flash of light and then a very broad "vapor trail" like a glowing stripe crossed upwards across the sky. We walked on further and about five...

Saturn sets before it gets dark and Jupiter right after. I've already seen the cluster in Hercules and the Andromeda galaxy. What else can I look for? Light pollution in my area is moderate, but nothing horrible. I'm using an 8" Meade Starfinder. Thanks!