Weird Blue Blinking star in the sky?

[FishMafia]

Hi, Im from Indonesia and I was just opening my garage when I realized a very bright blue object blinking in the sky. I guarantee its only flashing blue because the color was very dark. Dark Blue light flashing in the sky. Ive done some research out of curiosity and my best answer was the Sirius star but, it was said the the Sirius star blinks multiple colors non-stop while this object/star was like blinking in and out. Blink blue in the sky, dies out, blinks again and etc for a while before it disappeared.   I tried some video capturing but my smartphone's camera was too crappy to capture the blinking object. So is this a star or what? And what type of star is it? A dying one? A nebula? Perhaps extraterrestrial life? It was very bright in the sky and it was the only object/star shining. 

[John]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Which direction was the object and how far from the horizon was it ? A location, date and time (local) of the observation would help as well.

Sirius does not actually blink but can appear to scintillate because, from northern latitudes, it is quite low down in the sky and we observe it through lots of atmosphere.

 

Edited June 21, 2017 by John

[FishMafia]

Approx was:

Direction: North East

Horizon: 30 Degrees

Location: West Jakarta

Date: June 21 2017

Time (Local): 7:30-8:00 GMT +7 aprroximate

[popeye85]

looking at Stellarium it was most probably the star named 'Deneb'. Like John said-it is not actually blinking, it just appears that was because we see it through our own atmosphere which distorts things. here is wikipedias view on Deneb!-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deneb

Intresting to not that is could be up to 196 000X brighter than the sun!

Edited June 21, 2017 by popeye85

[Louis D]

As for the distinct blue color, perhaps there was a volcanic eruption between you and the star tinging the atmosphere with red light absorbing debris.  There are a lot of active volcanoes in Indonesia.  In the past, there have been green sunsets around the world after historically large volcanic eruptions.

[FishMafia]

Hmmm it might be Deneb also since the color I'd exactly the same from what I see except why is it the only stay visible that night? 

[JOC]

As a genuine suggestion could it have been an airplane flying directly towards you?

[Louis D]

4 hours ago, JOC said:

As a genuine suggestion could it have been an airplane flying directly towards you?

The real test is to go out night after night and observe the same star at about the same time, allowing for its natural movement across the sky.  If it isn't there at all, it was a plane.  If it is still there, observe the color and blinking nightly.  Only the OP can try this since we can't replicate his viewing conditions.

[popeye85]

how clear was it that night? could it have just been a gap in the clouds?

[Charlie1]

I am witnessing it it is very creepy there is no other stars around it and it is fairly high in the sky and its 1 am so dont know wat it is 

 

[Charlie1]

It's weird as it is 2 years after I am from the uk btw

[Nicola Hannah Butterfield]

On 07/02/2020 at 01:10, Charlie1 said:

I am witnessing it it is very creepy there is no other stars around it and it is fairly high in the sky and its 1 am so dont know wat it is 

 

Going of the previous data

Direction: North East

Horizon: 30 Degrees

Location: West Jakarta

Date: June 21 2017

Time (Local): 7:30-8:00 GMT +7 aprroximate

and the current data i.e. 1a.m. I presume you are looking in the same direction from the same place, it is probably Vega  it is a 0.57mag blue star approx 26 L.Y and as far as i can tell rises approx 1.40 am.

Deneb though much bigger and brighter in terms of absolute magnitude visually it is only 1.25 and doesn't rise till about 3.40 am. and going off what Popeye85 said

Times I think are your local, but daylight saving might influence that.

On 21/06/2017 at 19:12, popeye85 said:

Intresting to not that is could be up to 196 000X brighter than the sun!

yes it is much brighter than the Sun or indeed Vega, but it is aprrox 1,900 l.y. away, if however it was as close as Vega it would casr shadows at night.

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Nicola Hannah Butterfield
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