Odd sighting

[Nessy]

YouTube - Possible Brown Dwarf (Planet X?) very close to Orion's Belt

Does anyone have any idea what this is - step away from all the conspiracy stuff, I wondered if this is a planet/misplaced star or what. Some interesting comments. I dont have the skies to check this out so would be interested in anyones take.

Coordinates: 6h42m8.44s, 41 40' 18.94

Thanks for any sane comments.

[DarkerSky]

No idea. The questions that should be asked are:

1) How did the person arrive at the co-ordinates? Seem very accurate given the 'point and shoot' nature of the vid

2) Why would it be a brown dwarf and detectable by IR? Infra red measures heat. Brown dwarfs are cool - much, much cooler than any star in Orion's belt. Wouldn't be detctable without a very large IR scope

At the risk of sounding confrontational, there are about a thousand and one things it could be - but I wager none of them being what it is suggested to be

[Nessy]

Thanks - I completely agree and don't know any background to it... I just thought it very interesting. I don't know how these co-ordinates came about. Apparently there are a couple of other videos showing something orbiting but I have not viewed them yet.

I'm ignoring it unless someone here actually sees it and says 'what the heck is that!'....

Cheers.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Damned if i know what this person means.

The only orange star i know of anywhere near Orions belt is Betelguese. Yes it is a variable star but it sure aint no planet X.

[ZOG]

Looking at the comments he got the coordinates using his LX200

I have no idea what the object is but I'm sure going to take a look if tonight is clear.

[Iris]

This object is no where near Orion - it is in a region about midway between NGC 2281 and Psi 2 Aurigae according to the co-ordinates given.

There are a couple of redish orange stars in this area with apparently close companions.

My first thought here was HIP 32433 but I wasnt able to reconcile the nearby star patterns with the video stills. Another candidate which is less orange but where some nearby star groupings look similar is HIP 32152.

Google Earth/Sky has missing image for the exact co-ordinates offered, which doubtless fuel the conspiracy theorists.

According to an earlier posting on the comments on UTube the videoer I believe stated that this red object was visible to the naked eye - but I couldnt see it thats for sure when I was out the other night - and I did look for a bit of fun. Though I didnt point the tube thingy there.

Anyway I am unqualified to comment on the whole brown dwarf thingy etcetera but its fun to try and identify what someone else has seen and not been able to identify themselves.

All that having been said if he got the co-ords from an LX 200 then they will only be as good as his alignment I suppose...

[Nessy]

Hunting around the internet it looks like this might have been a little misleading. If you looked at the map for the dates he recorded then it looks like an obvious Mars!

[LukeSkywatcher]

OK i am sober (ish) now and looked at the video AGAIN. The orange "star" is nowhere near Orion. Infact it is not even a star. Even though the video is B&W....................the distance/direction he panned from Orion to, clearly shows a large disc which is obviously very clearly Mars.

Was this video originally posted on April 1st by any chance?

[Mick UK]

Heres another video by the same person, this one shows a lot more stars in it so should be a bit easier to help identify the objects position.

Paul..this one was posted on the 18th of March, so unless youtube is in on the act, i guess we'll have to believe him!

YouTube - Could this really be Planet X? March 18th, 2010 update

[LukeSkywatcher]

OK so the object we should focus on is the point of light @ 7 o clock to Mars?. This person says it is moving?

I'm not seeing it.

[Mick UK]

I think the person who posted the video is saying, the bright object is the mysterious object and he's pointing out that it has a moon orbiting around it. He's not saying that the bright object is Mars.

He mentions at 1.04 that Mars is in the constellation of Cancer.

If he knows which constellation Mars is in, why the heck doesnt he name which one the Object is in..would make it a lot easier to locate.....or .....perhaps thats his intention..not to!