Just sat on balcony at Copacabana NSW watching a bright twinkling light in the west at about 10-15deg from horizon, time 9.56 pm. What am I looking at? I thought at first that it was an aircraft, but is moving as per earth rotation.
Hi Steve,
Sirius is the brightest star next to the sun in our sky.
It also has some interesting history attached to it.
Ever heard of the term "dog day" ?
Quote:
The star’s name means scorching, since the summer heat occurred just after Sirius’ helical rising. The Ancient Greeks referred to such times in the summer as dog days, as only dogs would be mad enough to go out in the heat, leading to the star being known as the Dog Star. Consequently, the constellation was named after it, as a Big Dog.
Yep Sirius.
Planetarium programs are a great way to help work out what you're looking at. Check out Stellarium or one of the apps for your phone like Sky Safari, SkEye, Star Walk or one of the many others
BTW many thanks for indicating that it was west and how high in degrees.
Sometimes we get people asking what they saw without any idea of locality nor height.
There's a lot of stars in the sky....
Sounds like Sirius all right. As a very bright star it along with other bright stars will not only twinkle but appear to change colours as the air moves around. Canopus, the second brightest star also shows this effect very strongly.
