Mars..and?

[RodexMtl]

17:45 pm (GMT-5). I can see through my 10x50 Mars ...and at its side, right side a bright star.... But I can't identify it in the Celestron app Skyportal nor cosmic story lite. Can someone take a look?

[ronin]

Venus.

Presently they are right next to each other.

[RodexMtl]

No....Mercury and Venus were closer to the horizon..and even under my horizon when I could see mars shining. I think the star that I saw, by its position according to Sky portal was Beta Aquarii (Sadalsuud). I had my doubts because, if that star was beta acuarii, alpha acuarii had to be seen just some degrees over mars and the star, and I couldn't see it. May be it was a matter of some tree branches that were in my field of view

[Paul73]

Not sure where in Canada you are, but it could have been the International Space Station (ISS). It was over North America at that time.

Paul

[BinocularSky]

Assuming it was about 12 deg (approx the distance between theforefinger and little finger tips of a "spread" hand on an outstretched arm) it was beta Aqr. Alpha Aqr is about half a mag fainter than beta.

[RodexMtl]

Thank you very much guys for your replies. The ISS couldn't be as the star wasn't moving... And thanks to your reply Steve, I realized that beta Aqr couldn't be: the star and Mars were in the same FOV (6.5°), and effectively, Beta Aqr is way out of the FOV. Indeed, I think Mars and the star was separated about 3° to 4°, in a parallel right line to the horizon. This star i saw it to the right of mars. That puzzle me is that, using now Stellarium, the star that most suits the position is e Aqr, but its magnitude is 5.4 and in the same FOV I couldn't see more stars... 42 Aqr and 45 Aqr are in the order of 5.4-5.3 also. I can't say what were the magnitude of the star, but was brighter, enough to be seen naked eye with a lot of effort, but visible.

I'll try to see it again today. Mars has to be moved about a half degree up. If This star is e Aquarii, it, with mars and 42 Aquarii have to be seen in the same FOV.

[RodexMtl]

Sorry. I mean e Aqr and 42 Aqr are in the 5.4 magnitude... But also 45 Aqr are below 6

[RodexMtl]

Hahahahaha... How embarrasing...

Well....the two "stars" that I though one was Mars, the other was possible e Aqr.....was Venus and Mercury.... Yesterday, the pair of "planets" that i saw minutes before and went under my horizon, behind some trees was indeed.....a cloud....a little cloud that, when the sunset arrived, began to shine reflecting the last sun rays and thats why, i saw it forming an extrange single dot...oval, not 2 clear dots...and I though it was for the trees, the angle, a hot air comming out from a chimenei near....etc etc...So...still some degrees over the horizon, what i saw wasnt Mars and a star.....were the real venus and the real mercury..... The real mars is still higher in the sky...

Well, no supernova this time :D:D:D

[ghostdance]

LOL! Reminds me of the time I got really disorientated late one night and thought I'd found a brand new (to me) big DSO in Auriga I think it was. I got really excited and mystified for a bit...Then realised I'd been looking at M31 but at a different angle.

I almost tore up my Junior Stargazer badge!

[Dave In Vermont]

If you should "bump" into any more inexplicable denizens up thar, and you wonder if it could be the ISS/Zarya (which looks like a freight-train going overhead), this is an excellent satellite-tracking program:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/previsat/

You can load the telemetry of many other critters, too. It is freeware.

Happy Hunting,

Dave