Quote:
Originally Posted by astro744
You mention in your OP that you have Stellarium. Please check location set in the program matches your locale... I just set [... ] northern hemisphere version which will be useless.
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Thanks very much for that great reply astro, and I will read it a few more times after this. That certainly is an extraordinary effect caused by the atmosphere then. If you say that Canopus is not that far west at that time then yes it probably is another star. I know pretty well where the sun sets so I was using that as a guide. Amazing that they seem so similar in appearance. However the one in the middle of the night was quite high (amateur layman's guess at around 40 to 45 degrees) so Spica would fit that. I will look again tonight, if not too cold outside at that time and look at the Planisphere you mention as well. Thanks.
Also out of interest, I sent in a reworded version of the OP to Perth Observatory and this is the disappointing, hurriedly written reply I got:
"Hi Steven
Thanks for your email, from you description it definitely sounds like the light is of terrestrial in nature so I’d be guessing in regards from your location and the direction it’s in, it might have something to do with the Airport
(name) Tour Administrator"
So it seems that it could also be a weather balloon that looks like a star....mmm. (mildly sarcastic comment from someone who has been interested in UFOs since he was 13)
As I mentioned in the OP, a casual look for a couple of seconds might lead a person to think it was a large far-away aircraft approaching the airport. But I thought I made it fairly clear in the email to them that I had observed it for long periods and on many nights.