LogicaL Chaos said:

But it tracked it all night long, as I poked my head out on each of my breaks. Thats why I dont think it was a star. The moon doesnt "lock" with the stars behind it like that as it moves thru the sky.

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chibiabos said:

LogicaL Chaos said:

starlike object hovering near the Moon.

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That's almost certainly a star, unless it's a planet.

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star??, planets??, the moon??.. wow.. i mean these things actually exist??.. incredible!

koods said:

LogicaL Chaos said:

But it tracked it all night long, as I poked my head out on each of my breaks. Thats why I dont think it was a star. The moon doesnt "lock" with the stars behind it like that as it moves thru the sky.

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lol what? Yes it does. The moon moves approximately 0.5 degrees per hour relative to stars. Not perceptible to humans. For reference the stars located in the plane of the solar system (in which the moon and planets exist) move nearly 15 degrees per hour, the moon 14.5.

When was this? Gimme the exact date and I'll bet you Jupiter was very close to the moon that night

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Quote:

Aldebaran, designated Alpha Tauri (α Tauri, abbreviated Alpha Tau, α Tau), is an orange giant star located about 65 light years from the Sun in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. It is the brightest star in its constellation and usually the fourteenth-brightest star in the nighttime sky, though it varies slowly in brightness between magnitude 0.75 and 0.95. It is likely that Aldebaran hosts a planet several times the size of Jupiter.

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Quote:

Aldebaran is close enough to the ecliptic to be occulted by the Moon. Such occultations occur when the Moon's ascending node is near the autumnal equinox. A series of 49 occultations occur starting at 29 January 2015 and ending at 3 September 2018.[34] Each event is visible from a different location on Earth, but always in the northern hemisphere or close to the equator. That means that people in e.g. Australia or South Africa can never observe an Aldebaran occultation. This is due to the fact that Aldebaran is slightly too far south of the ecliptic. A reasonably accurate estimate for the diameter of Aldebaran was obtained during the occultation of 22 September 1978.[35] Aldebaran is in conjunction with the Sun around June 1 of each year.[36]

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Quote:

January 26, 2018 – the waxing gibbous moon passes in the vicinity of Aldebaran, an ex-pole star, a famous zodiac star, and the brightest star in the constellation Taurus the Bull. In fact, if you live in Asia, you can actually watch the moon occult – cover over – Aldebaran for a portion of the night tonight. Aldebaran will disappear behind the moon’s dark side and reappear on its illuminated side. So the disappearance will probably be easier to spot than the reappearance.

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koods said:

LogicaL Chaos said:

But it tracked it all night long, as I poked my head out on each of my breaks. Thats why I dont think it was a star. The moon doesnt "lock" with the stars behind it like that as it moves thru the sky.

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lol what? Yes it does. The moon moves approximately 0.5 degrees per hour relative to stars. Not perceptible to humans. For reference the stars located in the plane of the solar system (in which the moon and planets exist) move nearly 15 degrees per hour, the moon 14.5.

When was this? Gimme the exact date and I'll bet you Jupiter was very close to the moon that night

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LogicaL Chaos said:

I learned that the Moon can be "locked" with a planet during a night if they line up like that.

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koods said:

The moon thing was the star Aldebaran. See further up the thread.

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LogicaL Chaos said:

koods said:

LogicaL Chaos said:

But it tracked it all night long, as I poked my head out on each of my breaks. Thats why I dont think it was a star. The moon doesnt "lock" with the stars behind it like that as it moves thru the sky.

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lol what? Yes it does. The moon moves approximately 0.5 degrees per hour relative to stars. Not perceptible to humans. For reference the stars located in the plane of the solar system (in which the moon and planets exist) move nearly 15 degrees per hour, the moon 14.5.

When was this? Gimme the exact date and I'll bet you Jupiter was very close to the moon that night

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October 9th, 2017

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October 9, 2017 Oregon PST

4:30, 5:30, 6:30 AM

The star to the left of the moon is the orange giant Alpha Tauri, common name Aldebaran. Approximately 3 degrees from the moon at 4:30, 2 degrees at 6:30.



Aldebaran is one of the easiest stars to identify due to its brightness and distinct orange/red color visible to the naked eye.