What's with this star?

Question

Please don't say that this is a stupid question or something becasue I jsut really want to know. Every night when I look out the window at about 10:30 I see the same star. I know it is the same one because it is the brightest one and it looks like the only one there. So like some days it goes to the right and then it's out of view (unless you go outside) and then it goes to the left until it goes out of view (again, unless you go outside) and then it goes to the right and then to the left and so on. I wondered, why does it do this? Just curious.

Answer 1

Depends on if it is a planet or not. There is a thing called retrograde motion, because of the orbits of the planets, some planets (which look like very bright stars) make a little loop in the sky, as the earth's orbit makes an angel with it.

As the earth travels toward it, it is at one angle, as it passes, it changes rapidly, over a few days, then as it goes past, it changes again, other direction like a little loop in the sky.

Carl Sagan has a good demonstration of this in an episode of cosmos with pictures, the episode involving Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe, and Galileo.

Answer 2

The Earth spins at 1000 miles per hour at the equator. When you say, "About 10:30", remember, the Earth turns about 1/4 of a degree per minute - so, in 4 minutes, the view of that star (or planet) is 1 degree different than it was. In an hour, the star will be *15* degrees further west. And, as Earth moves in it's orbit about the sun, the view of stars at night changes as well.
So, I think what you're seeing is the motion of the Earth - both rotational, and our orbital motion around the sun.

Answer 3

One of the problems that we all have in talking on Yahoo is failure to identify where we are and what direction and elevation we are refering to when entering into discussions of sights observed in the night sky. Your reader might rush to the window and see nothing because he/she was completely on the other side of the Earth from you at the time.


So...To help us all, and get everyone thinking on the same page...always tell us your City - Country, and the Azimuth (Compass Heading) + elevation (Angle up from horizontal) that the object was sighted, and then the Date and Time that you made the observation. With that information, anyone, anywhere can adjust for their location and try to locate what you were seeing to reply to your question.

Think of it like this:
11:00 PM in Hong Kong, China, is not seeing the same things as 11:00 PM in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.

To fully understand this please look at the Star Charts in any book on Astronomy.

Answer 4

I'm guessing this isn't a random event but rather this happens over the course of a year? If so, then what you are seeing is the effect of the earth tilting on its axis and changing position with repesct to the star as the earth moves around the sun.

If it is a random event, either someone is playing a trick on yu or you have discovered a ufo :>)

Answer 5

We are lacking one essential piece of information to even begin to answer your question: Which direction does your window face in? If it faces west, you're probably looking at Venus; if it faces south, you're probably looking at Jupiter.

Answer 6

tonight, if it is in the west when the sun has just set, it would have to be venus. if it's in the south it's jupiter. all celestial objects move east to west.

Answer 7

I think you are seeing jupiter

Answer 8

I am not sure, cos i dont know where in the world you are, but i would guess its saturn

Answer 9

Need more information as to what time frame you are talking about as to it's apparent motion, please. Hours? Days? Weeks?

Answer 10

yea..... u have to be spefic it not 10:30 at which time zone