What was I watching?

[Dons255]

Ok, possibly a daft question - had a break in the clouds last night, went out to take a look at the moon (first time it's been visible recently)...

Anyhow, very bright (no, not Jupiter!) 'twinkly' point of light with red, green & yellow glow (not flashing, kinda like a rainbow halo around the object).

Quite stationary in the sky, so automatically discarded an aeroplane (although I suppose it could have been flying straight at/from my position).

Watched it for a good 30 mins trying to decide what I was looking at, any suggestions?

[iamjulian]

Sirius twinkles different colours? If you let us know what time and in which direction you were looking it may help narrow it down.

[Dons255]

Easterly, ish, around midnight, lower in the sky than the moon. Aldebaran?

[Space Oddity6]

Sounds like Aldebaran or Betelgeuse. How low was it to the horizon, Betelgeuse is lower.

[Dons255]

Highly accurate measurement coming up -- halfway between horizon and moon (probably not helpful), but after a little more research I'm leaning towards Aldebaran myself.

At least it's no longer an UFO

[Capricorn]

Betelgeuse would I think have been a bit low to be seen - unless on the fens or similar.

Aldebaran is a good candidate. Did you notice a cluster to the right of it? Pleiades? Will say that I thought Aldebaran was orangy in tone.

Another is Capella, that was up and is bright and if thin cloud then you could get the halo round it.

[Glider]

Dons255, if you haven't got it already, download a copy of Stellarium, it's free and will really help with identifying objetcs in the night sky.

[FraserClarke]

Aldebaran is a good candidate. Did you notice a cluster to the right of it? Pleiades? Will say that I thought Aldebaran was orangy in tone.

The Hyades cluster is directly west* of Aldebaran (degree or two), but they are a bit less noticable than the Pleiades, which are about 15 degrees west of the Aldebaran.

Remember being fantastically chuffed when I 'discovered' the Hyades one of the first times I used a telescope

* That is celestial west, not geographic west, i.e. along the celestial equator.