Well, from the description (i.e. several nights in a row, same position), it sounds like you are talking about a star or planet. This "tracking south" you're talking about, how fast is it? If it happens over minutes and hours, then it must be a star or planet. Unless the air above your observing spot is very unstable, it's most likely a star, as planets don't flash as much, especially not in many colors. There are, however, two planets in this region at the time you're talking about. The first is Saturn, which is yellow-orangish, situated to the left of Aldebaran, which is an orangish star about the same brightness (a little dimmer) as Saturn. Far to Saturn's lower left is the brighter Jupiter, which should shine yellow-white. If you'll be observing tonight, the Moon will be *very* close to Jupiter after the two rise. Far above Jupiter and a little to the left (even higher than Saturn) is Capella, the brightest star in Auriga. It has a yellowish color, but as it's also quite bright, can flash too, an effect known as scintillation (or twinkling). :-) Directly to this star's right is a little pointed triangle made up of three faint stars. This all can be seen in the East at the time you mentioned. To further help you know what is what when you're looking up there, there's a little open star cluster known as the Pleiades, which is just as high as Capella, but directly above Saturn and Aldebaran. It's a tight, compact grouping of 6-8 stars (depending on how dark your sky and how good your visual acuity is) that looks a little bit like a dipper (but it's *not* the Little Dipper!). Tell me if this is anything you've been seeing, or if I'm talking about something completely else. :-) Ulrich -----Original Message----- From: john laws <registrar@lawsfamilyregister.org.uk> To: SeeSat-L@satobs.org <SeeSat-L@satobs.org> Date: Tuesday, October 09, 2001 02:11 Subject: Inidentfied >Hi List > >I'm new on this list so please bear with me. for some time we have been >observing an object in the sky, tonight at about 23:00 GMT+1 it lay >abt 30 degrees above the horizon due east it generally tracks south and >appears to flash in varied colours > >Our location which is >Welton, LINCS England (53.3020N 0.4770W) > >We regularly see ISS >and hope to see sunshine3 soon > >John P LAWS >Registrar@lawsfamilyregister.org.uk >http://www.lawsfamilyregister.org.uk >laws@one-name.org > > >Listowner:- laws-uk-l@rootsweb.com >Listowner:- wolstencroft-l@rootsweb.com >Listowner:- tree-warden-links-l@nature.rootsweb.com >Member of GOONS >Putting Flesh on the Bones of History > >Join our newsgroup send a mail to LAWS-UK-L-Request@Rootsweb.com put nothing >in the message other than the word SUBSCRIBE > >The LAWS FAMILY REGISTER welcomes your support, for details go to our >website http://www.lawsfamilyregister.org.uk > >THIS Email is made out of environmentally friendly ASCII Text. >Feel free to forward our newsletters to anyone who might be interested. > >This e-mail does NOT have any attachments from us. >Any attachment should be regarded as a virus and be deleted. >In this case, please notify us immediately! > > > >----------------------------------------------------------------- >Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' >in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org >http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html > ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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