What was it?

Tristaan wrote:
> Okay, I'm searching around on line to find out something but I
> cannot seem to find what I'm looking for.
>
> In the Mid-Atlantic region of the US at about 11 PM last night,
> July 15th, we noticed in the South Eastern Sky a bright object.
> It was bright enough to be seen with an almost full moon hovering
> in the South South East.
>
> It was statically positioned in the sky and was not moving
> relative to the background stars, at least to the naked eye. My
> reaction was that this was one of the larger planets of either
> Jupiter or Saturn. I could not find anything on line that gave
> indication of the positioning of these two planets with any
> definitive information.
>
> Anyone know a site that I can find out or have any information to
> share? It was a rather wonderful sight.

It most probably was Jupiter. I find www.spaceweather.com to be a
*very* informative site, complete with sky maps etc. They also have a
daily e-mail option that alerts you to happenings in the night sky
along with a site that actually tells you what is flying by overhead.

--
Purrt the ghatta
Smitten Kitten
Part-time gryphon
Disciple to the Goddess of Chocolate
Owner of a full Pedant's licenc/se
Goddess of Impertinence
Snikkrish the Tearer
Carpe Bean
 >> Stay informed about: What was it? 

Purrt wrote:
> Tristaan wrote:
>
>>Okay, I'm searching around on line to find out something but I
>>cannot seem to find what I'm looking for.
>>
>>In the Mid-Atlantic region of the US at about 11 PM last night,
>>July 15th, we noticed in the South Eastern Sky a bright object.
>>It was bright enough to be seen with an almost full moon hovering
>>in the South South East.
>>
>>It was statically positioned in the sky and was not moving
>>relative to the background stars, at least to the naked eye. My
>>reaction was that this was one of the larger planets of either
>>Jupiter or Saturn. I could not find anything on line that gave
>>indication of the positioning of these two planets with any
>>definitive information.
>>
>>Anyone know a site that I can find out or have any information to
>>share? It was a rather wonderful sight.
>
> It most probably was Jupiter. I find www.spaceweather.com to be a
> *very* informative site, complete with sky maps etc. They also have a
> daily e-mail option that alerts you to happenings in the night sky
> along with a site that actually tells you what is flying by overhead.

<guilty twitch>

So I'm not the only person on that email list?

--
Megan
Journeyperson Dancing Barbarian
Keeper o' the FAQ: http://home.earthlink.net/~m_thomas3/abml/
 >> Stay informed about: What was it? 

"Tristaan" <tristaanus.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Okay, I'm searching around on line to find out something but I
> cannot seem to find what I'm looking for.
>
> In the Mid-Atlantic region of the US at about 11 PM last night,
> July 15th, we noticed in the South Eastern Sky a bright object.
> It was bright enough to be seen with an almost full moon hovering
> in the South South East.
>
> It was statically positioned in the sky and was not moving
> relative to the background stars, at least to the naked eye. My
> reaction was that this was one of the larger planets of either
> Jupiter or Saturn. I could not find anything on line that gave
> indication of the positioning of these two planets with any
> definitive information.
>
> Anyone know a site that I can find out or have any information to
> share? It was a rather wonderful sight.

Jupiter. I can't recall just where you live, but using Allentown's
coordinates, here's the "what's up?" list for solar system objects at 11:00
EDT last night:


15-Jul-08
View From: Earth (horizon mode), 40:39 N lat 75:26 W lon

------ TIME ------ --------------- POSITION --------------- Distance
Distance Size
OBJECT RISE SET RA DEC ALT AZ AU Hours arcsec

Mercury 4:33 AM 7:28 PM 6:40 22:57 -24:41 343:53 1.16 0:09 5.81
Venus 6:32 AM 9:09 PM 8:28 20:27 -17:03 318:11 1.7 0:14 9.98
Mars 9:30 AM 10:42 PM 10:43 9:13 -3:50 285:37 2.2 0:18 4.25
Jupiter 7:53 PM 5:15 AM 19:13 -22:36 22:51 155:46 4.16 0:34 47.24
Saturn 9:15 AM 10:39 PM 10:35 10:50 -4:19 288:15 10.05 1:23 16.47
Uranus 11:10 PM 10:51 AM 23:38 -3:18 -2:29 92:14 19.57 2:42 3.36
Neptune 9:53 PM 8:17 AM 21:43 -14:08 11:00 119:40 29.2 4:02 2.13
Pluto 6:13 PM 4:19 AM 17:55 -17:03 32:08 174:48 30.68 4:15 0.27
Sun 5:44 AM 8:30 PM 7:44 21:18 -21:16 328:03
Moon 7:00 PM 2:53 AM 17:58 -28:14 20:55 174:53 403882 km




Note the positions of the Jupiter and the Moon: azimuth 155 degrees (SE) and
174 (S), and the nearly identical altitudes of 23 and 21 degrees. It's well
positioned for viewing; even with a tiny telescope in an area of severe
light pollution you can see the four Galilean moons and the banding on the
cloud tops. With a medium-sized amateur telescope and decent seeing
conditions you should also be able to see the shadows of the Galilean moons
as they pass between Jupiter and the Sun.

Joe
 >> Stay informed about: What was it? 

> <guilty twitch>
>
> So I'm not the only person on that email list?
>
Nope. I'm on there too. Got to see a nice double fly over with the
shuttle and ISS a while back thanks to the emails. Even if some of
the neighbors look at you a little funny for standing out in the yard
at midnight or thereabouts looking at moving points of light.

Snowfire
 >> Stay informed about: What was it? 

"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:QMudnRLXi8ljHePVnZ2dnUVZ_sTinZ2d@earthlink.com...
> Purrt wrote:
>> It most probably was Jupiter. I find www.spaceweather.com to be a *very*
>> informative site, complete with sky maps etc. They also have a daily
>> e-mail option that alerts you to happenings in the night sky along with a
>> site that actually tells you what is flying by overhead.
>
> <guilty twitch>
>
> So I'm not the only person on that email list?

Nope, I'm on it too. Not that I have time to go out and look lately, not
even supposing the clouds clear off enough to see anything.

Sasha the sigless
 >> Stay informed about: What was it? 

Snowfire wrote:
>><guilty twitch>
>>
>>So I'm not the only person on that email list?
>
> Nope. I'm on there too. Got to see a nice double fly over with the
> shuttle and ISS a while back thanks to the emails. Even if some of
> the neighbors look at you a little funny for standing out in the yard
> at midnight or thereabouts looking at moving points of light.
>
> Snowfire

Now that I have a yard, I'll pop out there to look when I think I
might be positioned to see something. (And when I remember in time,
which isn't often.)

Before, I'd wander out into the middle of the street in my bathrobe.

Talk about funny looks from the neighbors!

--
Megan
Journeyperson Dancing Barbarian
Keeper o' the FAQ: http://home.earthlink.net/~m_thomas3/abml/
 >> Stay informed about: What was it?