Whats this in the sky?

[WiKi_KiKi]

So I'm just about to go to bed when I look out of our 3rd floor window to see sensational views of the sky. In the distance I saw a bright star, that really stood out over the others and the light pollution nearby. (At least I think its a star!)

The star or object was flashing, or pulsing, in different colours. Most notably red, green, blue and white. I thought my brain was playing tricks so I got my small-ish binoculars out for a better look.

When looking, the object was still pulsating in different colours. I've never seen something like this before.

But now, about 5 minutes later, the object has moved quite sharply to a lower point, so low that its behind one of the trees. It is still there, but I know the Earth doesn't rotate that fast! So the sky shouldnt move that sharply... but what is it? Is it a bird, is it a plane!? (as the old saying goes!)

Cheers,

Scott

[Episkey]

What direction were you looking in? My guess would be the star Sirius if you were looking South. The flashing is caused by atmospheric turbulence when they are near the horizon. It could of been Venus if you were looking West.

[phat tony]

i would agree it was sirius, i was out gazing. what a great night. i was looking at it myself. my 3 year old daughter loved the colors so i let her have a look. i was also looking at Jupiter and Venus with her, Venus was not pulsing in the same way. there was a second smaller star doing the same closer to Orion

[WiKi_KiKi]

i would agree it was sirius, i was out gazing. what a great night. i was looking at it myself. my 3 year old daughter loved the colors so i let her have a look. i was also looking at Jupiter and Venus with her, Venus was not pulsing in the same way. there was a second smaller star doing the same closer to Orion

Thanks for your help both! I can finally get some sleep now haha

I saw the second smaller star pulsating too, but didn't make much of it. I'm glad I got to the bottom of this, cheers guys, never knew Sirius was so interesting.

Cheers,

Scott