Orange-ish object to the west?

[kevrees]

Hi, i was just driving home from work and noticed a bright orange-ish object in the sky towards the west that i've never seen before. It looked bigger than any star i've seen and at first i thought it may have been the ISS but this object is just moving at the same rate as everything else in the night sky. When i got home my parents were asking me what time the ISS was passing over as they went outside to have a look about half 9 and could see it as well so it must have been higher up in the sky then.

Its very close to the horizon right now as i live in a valley and could only see it when i was at the top of the mountain, it disappeared behind the mountains the lower i was getting.

I checked on stellarium and couldnt see what it may have been so wondering if anyone else had noticed it tonight and may be able to shed some light on what it is.

[wookie1965]

This sounds like mars its close to the horizon now going down with the sun saturn is there aswell with a bright star called spica but red colour id go for mars.

[faulksy]

if it was more orangey it could of been that thing called the sun, not many have seen it. :grin: couldnt resist sorry

[JamesF]

Mars does seem like a good bet.

James

[Hypernova]

Does anyone have an actual explanation for this? I did not see it myself but received a call from my sister, who was out for a drive a few miles away, who was asking what this large, bright, orange object was. I went outside and looked for whatever she saw. For some reason I looked east and neglected to look west so did not see what everyone else saw. I just assumed she was talking of Jupiter which was rising on the east at the time.

[kevrees]

I would've thought mars but to be honest i have only ever seen pictures of mars posted on here so i have no idea what it looks like 'in the sky' so to speak. I dont know if its any help but it looked bigger than jupiter has when its been rising to the east lately.

I'll take my camera with me tomorrow to try and take some pictures if that'll help. The camera is only a rubbish old 3mp one tho so wont be the greatest. Can record a small video clip as well if any of that astro-imaging software can bring any more detail out. Dont know if that will help.

[Josh Wilson]

could have been antares. It's low on the horizon really late. I'm not sure of the time though. Can you clarify? It could definitely be Mars though. Was it in a triangle with Spica (bluish white) and Saturn (pale khaki to yellow)?

[Graham Darke]

I suspect that the star Arcturus is what people have seen. It's the second brightest star visible from the northern hemisphere after Sirius. It has a decidedly orange hue to it to the naked eye. It is in the western part of the sky as darkness falls.

[Ganymede12]

Sounds like the sun to me.

Though it's probably Mars.

[ChrisThePuma]

Another vote for the sun :-)

[Mr Flibble]

I suspect that the star Arcturus is what people have seen. It's the second brightest star visible from the northern hemisphere after Sirius. It has a decidedly orange hue to it to the naked eye. It is in the western part of the sky as darkness falls.

I agree. Arcturus is setting in the west now as night sets in, and its very bright and very orange.

[jamespels]

Can you give us a more precise time please? When I was driving home about 5pm I couldn't see anything... Roughly when was it dropping below the horizon?

If it was Mars it would have been a little to the north (right as you look at it) and lightly above the Moon. You should have been able to see Saturn and Spica as two points similar in brightness forming a triangle.

I am sure we can work this out between us but we're going to need a little more information to narrow it down.

J.

[jamespels]

Hmm - can't edit my own post, apparently...

Obviously Saturn and Spica are not going to form a triangle all by themselves - I meant, they will form a triangle of roughly equal sides with Mars