Community Chat

[IamMrsG]

http://www.space.com/33817-two-planets-bright-star-this-week.html

Saturn, Mars and Antares in a straight line.  Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky and is colorful.  Tonight, with binoculars, we saw red and green in it.  Then, without the binoculars, I saw it flash with a brief, colorful ring around it.  Quite a sight to behold! 

[jlkz]

Last night about 8:45 I went to pickup Chinese takeout for our dinner.  As I was driving there were 3 stars lined up in an unusual way.  I was very curious but forgot about it until I saw your post.

Thank you for posting that picture:

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@IamMrsG wrote:

http://www.space.com/33817-two-planets-bright-star-this-week.html

Saturn, Mars and Antares in a straight line.  Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky and is colorful.  Tonight, with binoculars, we saw red and green in it.  Then, without the binoculars, I saw it flash with a brief, colorful ring around it.  Quite a sight to behold! 

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[Daisy Sunflower]

So cool that you were able to see that!

[IamMrsG]

@Daisy Sunflower @jlkz   It truly was a special sight. 

We have a mostly unobstructed view of the night sky, and really enjoy/appreciate star gazing.  DH called me to the deck around 8:30 last evening (8/22), to show how clear the sky was.  Those three, two planets and the star, were smack-dab in front of me, and I literally gasped when I saw them.  They were bright and vertically aligned.  It was obvious it was something special.

When DH first viewed through the binoculars, Antares was so vividly colored he thought he was seeing an airplane's lights. After we confirmed it was indeed a star, I Googled it and found the information and photo I found.   I also read Antares can show colors of red, blue, yellow, green or orange.  Some say it's a double star.  As I said in the opening post, we saw green and red.

Evidently this event will last several more nights, and I encourage everyone to watch their sunset/evening South/South-Western sky.  It's a treat!