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Re: Observing Strange Star

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Posted by Paul Rest/">Paul Rest on November 29, 1998 00:42:58 UTC

I just checked a star chart, Sirrus's location matches your rough description of this "mystery star's" place in the sky. Stars do this when they are close to the horizion, especially the bright ones and Sirrus is THE brightest star in the sky. They flicker and flash and change all different colors, I believe it is called atmospheric scintillation. Very normal. Hope this answers your question.

-Paul

: Okay

: Time: 10:30pm Arizona time : Looking southeast in Tucson, AZ.

: There's a bright flickering star under the : constellation of Orion. If you look at Orion's belt, : the 3 stars that make up the belt point ALMOST in a : straight line towards it. The star is located about : half-way between Orion and the Horizon.

: I'm noticing this star flickering more and brighter : than others in the area. It's flickering red and blue. : I took out my binoculars and saw that it was not : simply a slow plane or helicopter in the distance. : It's stationary. It must be a star.

: Am I observing a possible instability which could : potentially mean a Nova, or is it just an atmospheric : effect that will go away when the star is further : from the horizon? It's only this star that is : flashing red and blue in the area.

: Any info on this would be appreciated. Please email : privately. Thanks

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