Struggling to identify a bright object in the sky

[andyukguy]

Hi,

Tonight at around 23:30 I spotted a "quite" bright object low in the southern sky. The object pulsated quite frequently indeed changing between orange, yellow, green and red. It was the brightest object in the night sky as agreed upon by myself and two other people. We spent 45 minutes watching it including via binoculars (through which it looked like a bright pin point of light that rapidly changed colours). The object very slowly moved from left to right in our field of vision seemingly at the same pace as what appeared to me to be Orion's belt (or at least three stars broadly lined up above the horizon). The bright pulsating object was about an 1/8th of the field of view distance away and a bit below what I think was Orion's belt.

As time progressed it seemed to dim and fade as if getting further away but the process was very gradual.

We are certain it wasn't a plane or helicopter as it moved in the same direction as the other stars at the same pace. However we are struggling to ID it at all. Our first thoughts were Venus as we'd heard reports that it'd be bright but I read on the net that Planets don't pulsate.

Any ideas what we were looking at?

As you can tell from my hazy description we're no astronomers but the object was genuinely beautiful and quite fascinating.

Thanks!

p.s. other stars in the sky were showing small colour fluctuations say from white to red but not anywhere near the speed and range of colours as this object and certainly nowhere near the brightness.

[blinky]

It sounds to me like you were looking at the star Sirius. Due to it being very low in the sky the light from it has to pass through a lot more of the earths atmosphere and this 'scintilates' the light or scatters it, hence why it changes colour etc.

[andyukguy]

It sounds to me like you were looking at the star Sirius. Due to it being very low in the sky the light from it has to pass through a lot more of the earths atmosphere and this 'scintilates' the light or scatters it, hence why it changes colour etc.

Hi,

Thanks for your quick answer! I've just found a star chart and indeed Sirius is in just the right place compared to Orion's belt in March. I gather it's the brightest star in the night sky so it seems it has to be what we were seeing! Never seen a start look so bright in my life!

Thanks again.

[GazOC]

I've had a similar experience and its been a plane moving away from me but along my line of sight.

[proflight2000]

Sirius was very much used by the ancient egyptions when they were farming etc, google it and you will find loads of good information.