Hi All,

I have just been outside the house and noticed that there is a very bright orange dot in the sky.

I am on Dartmoor in Devon and obviously can see a lot of stars but because this is orange it really stands out!!!

Any ideas what it could be??? Is it just a star??

Cheers

Steve

 

Mars?

 

According to google sky map (i hav no idea how accurate it is) Mars is roughly West-southwest and at an agle of about 40 degrees upwards. Should be very close to Cancer.

I would look to confirm this but the visability is crap where i am. (West Sussex near Brighton)

 

Yea that sounds about right. Never seen it before and I have been here 18 months!!!

Really should look up more

Must dig the Telescope out of the loft for the summer months I reckon.

 

Lol, It's funny how many people do not realise how easily visable Mars really is.

I wonder how many times it's been reported as a UFO by some halfwit

 

Yep your prob not wrong there!!

Just been outside after checking out Google and I am pretty sure its Mars!!!

Need to get a book or something as I am quite interested by it all now.

 

If you have an iPhone or google phone you can get an application called Google sky map, which uses the phones compass and magnetometer (spelling?) or accelerometer to determine exactly what angle the phone is at, it then uses this data to correspond with the sky map, so you can then point the phone in any direction and it will show you what is in that direction, hence how i found it was mars as that was the only thing in the sky that would appear bright and orange.


So on a clear night you could search for star signs or planets etc.

Quite clever really

 

If it has a red glow then it is deff Mars as stars are bright white.
I got a telescope for xmas from the wife and as soon as it gets a bit warmer, i will be out in my garden for longer than the half hour i have managed so far.
Even in this short time i have seen mars and a very clear veiw of the moon and all the craters, it is quite beautiful.

 

I just thought I'd mention that not all stars are white. There are many red giant stars out there. The most easily found one is probably Betelgeuse in the belt of Orion. Or there's also Arcturus, Antares, Gamma Crucis, and so on.

 

sounds like mars, its just passed its brightest time of year. very different colour to most other stars i can see on the way to work anyway

APOD: 2010 February 2 - Mars and a Colorful Lunar Fog Bow

APOD: 2010 January 29 - Mars Opposition 2010

 

Which direction was it, I live south of you.

Les

 

It was South / South West.

Hopefully it will be a clear night tonight so I can have another look.

May even get the telescope out tonight and wrap up nice and warm!!

 

Thanks-so will I.

Les

 

It was mars.

 

Either that, or we'll be joining the Dinosaurs soon.

 

Yes it is Mars, it has been visible for over 2 weeks now.

Also Uranus has been visible for several days now (might be longer).

 

If its any bigger tonight I will call Bruce Willis

 

he has been walking around with **** hanging out of his trousers for about a week now.