20 September 2010

Day time UFO above Canberra?

| nanzan
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Yesterday I spotted something odd in the day time sky above Franklin.

At about 2 pm, I happened to be lying down in a playground in Franklin (where I was playing with my son) and I spotted what appeared to be a silver or shiny light very high up in the sky, as I was looking almost straight up above my head, and a little towards the south. It appeared to be very high, but with very few reference points, and not being able to work out the size of the “object”, this was hard to know for sure. It didn’t appear to move from side to side – it appeared to be motionless or hovering – and it didn’t appear to be ascending or descending, or if it was going up it was doing so slowly.

I got up and went to the car and grabbed some binoculars. I returned to where I had been lying down in the playground and eventually found the object again in the sky and it seemed to be in the same position. Some clouds passed over it and obscured it from view, but then it came back into view once the clouds had passed. Through the binoculars I still couldn’t get a clear view of what the object was, just that it was certainly there, seemed to be silver or white or illuminated.

After looking away a few times and looking back I eventually lost sight of the object. I wonder where it went, and what it was?

It looked like a star or planet might, but would I be able to see a star or planet in that position in the sky at that time of the day – on a very sunny day? It could have been a balloon, but its lack of motion seemed perplexing.

Did anyone else happen to notice this object yesterday? (It reminded me that something could be in the sky in a position like that on almost any given day and most people would never notice. How many of us lie down and look straight up to the sky in the middle of the day?)

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Jupiter and Venus were both truly a sight to behold in the Canberra sky last night. Mars was also easy to find and clearly had a reddish hue. Uranus was there too – although I couldn’t see it – I knew it was there, keeping Jupiter company.

Just out of interest, and connected to the original subject of this thread, how many people in RiotACT land have actually themselves seen Venus in the sky in the middle of the day?

Reinstate Pluto now!!!

Thoroughly Smashed10:55 am 21 Sep 10

Gungahlin Al said :

This close, Jupiter is considerably brighter than Venus.

At its dimmest Venus is still ~7.5 times as bright to an observer on Earth than Jupiter is at its brightest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude

–3.82 Minimum brightness of Venus when it is on the far side of the Sun
–2.94 Maximum brightness of Jupiter

Gungahlin Al12:21 am 21 Sep 10

Yesterday, Jupiter passed (just) 592 million kms from Earth – closest since 1963 and not that close again until 2022.
This close, Jupiter is considerably brighter than Venus.

The ISS moves quite quickly through the sky – the movement is very obvious. It can be very bright too sometimes.

Reflective sign pointing south as the preferred place to live?

I was half-expecting the OP to say that his, “Mom got scared and said, ‘You’re moving to live with your uncle in Bel-Air.'”

Danny deck chair?

Too many Sunday afternoon glasses of wine?

It was balloon boy!

Deref said :

Wraith said :

Deckard said :

Probably Venus. You can see it in the day when it’s bright – which it is now.

Or maybe Uranus

Around 2.00pm it could certainly have been Venus.

You’d have a hard time finding Uranus with a pair of binoculars.

Thank you to everyone who provided a serious reply. I have just checked the sky above Canberra for that time yesterday afternoon (using: http://www.stellarium.org/) and sure enough Venus was visible at that time – first time I have seen Venus in the early afternoon with the naked eye!

Cheers.

Wraith said :

Deckard said :

Probably Venus. You can see it in the day when it’s bright – which it is now.

Or maybe Uranus

Around 2.00pm it could certainly have been Venus.

You’d have a hard time finding Uranus with a pair of binoculars.

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Or maybe Uranus

The sun certainly shines out of mine.

You must be working on your hands and knees today then.

Twit said :

I was also going to suggest the ISS, but yeah – it doesn’t match up. So I’m going to go instead with a small drunk learner planet.

…on a bicycle?

Woody Mann-Caruso3:49 pm 20 Sep 10

Or maybe Uranus

The sun certainly shines out of mine.

Thoroughly Smashed3:26 pm 20 Sep 10

Twit said :

I was also going to suggest the ISS, but yeah – it doesn’t match up. So I’m going to go instead with a small drunk learner planet.

Pluto’s pissed, pissed off and he’s coming for revenge?

Deckard said :

Probably Venus. You can see it in the day when it’s bright – which it is now.

Or maybe Uranus

I was also going to suggest the ISS, but yeah – it doesn’t match up. So I’m going to go instead with a small drunk learner planet.

colourful sydney racing identity3:03 pm 20 Sep 10

Bosworth said :

Watch out for the argument from ignorance.
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/ignorant.html

What is that silver shining thing in the sky?
I don’t know.
Therefore, it MUST be …..

To be fair it is, by definition, a U.F.O.

Watch out for the argument from ignorance.
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/ignorant.html

What is that silver shining thing in the sky?
I don’t know.
Therefore, it MUST be …..

you should have grabbed your camera or mobile phone with camera instead of the binoculars…..

I would’ve said the International Space Station which, with the addition last year of yet more solar panels, is often visible during the day. However, in the last few days its been passing over the ACT very early in the morning and late at night.

http://www.heavens-above.com/allpass1sat.asp?lat=-35.27702&lng=149.11194&alt=0&loc=Canberra&TZ=AEST&satid=25544&Date=40439.5833333333&Mag=

Probably Venus. You can see it in the day when it’s bright – which it is now.

Iridium satellite?

It was a reptiod. The silver colour is from his tinfoil helmet.

probably a lost balloon or kite from the Candle festival

Swamp gas.
Weather balloon.

Nothing to see here.

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