How to figure out what it is?

[carastro]

Is it, I thought it was jumping for joy. 

Carole 

[Sunshine]

Well that was fun to read through! I was following along in Stellarium also and reading responses.

[Pullock]

One thing to keep in mind if a star seems to 'twinkle' it will look like it's flashing different colours, this is what is known as the 'seeing' being bad which basically means that atmospheric conditions are bad for viewing. Hope that makes sense!

[Olhippie]

OK, I am pretty sure what I am seeing is SADR and GAMA CIGNI  using that app Sky View, wow what a cool app! I cant wait till I get up at God-Awful o'clock and double check it but I think that is what I am seeing !! WHOO HOOOO I think I am hooked!

[Ricochet]

18 hours ago, Olhippie said:

it was at 17-18 degrees above the horizon at 4am and pretty much in the NW sky. I have been stumbling around on Stellarium and I am learning BUT it will take me a while to understand all the settings and terms it uses, shoot I finally realized what Azimuth is so bear with me.  You may be right about Mars though I will see if I can locate Mars at 4am on Stellarium using my location see if I can figure this out.

It will be Capella, in the constellation Auriga. At 4am it is at 315°, 19° from your location. The low elevation of the star means that the atmosphere causes the effect that you are seeing. You will see the same effect on any bright star at such an altitude. Here in the UK it is most commonly seen with Sirius.

Here's an article on Capella flashing red and green

Youtube video of Sirius showing a similar effect

Mars is below the horizon at this time. Sadr is in the correct position in the early evening, but you have to remember that due to the Earth spinning, the stars and planets appear to move across the sky and will be in different positions at different times. Early in the morning Sadr is in the north east sky.  Due to the Earth orbiting the Sun the position of a celestial object at a certain time will also change.

[Olhippie]

Well it's raining this morning here on the coast, so I can't see anything but I am still playing with that app, at different times, I am afraid you folks have a newbie who will be trying to learn and understand even though his old brain is already full of "stuff" I hope all this new information sticks.  Capella seems to be a very likely candidate for what I am seeing and your description of its location seems spot on to me. The one thing that I am not understanding is to me it looks like probably two stars really close together making it look like it is oval or wider than it is tall. But whatever, I need to keep working on that Stellarium thing, all this new "astronomical language" is daunting to understand but forward HO----!

It is now 4:52 am here and using Sky View and pointing to the spot i usually see that star your right it must be Capella! Here are two pics I took a few minutes ago. This could get addicting.