My eyes deceived me so I had to debunk myself

derwoodii

Senior Member.
I thought I was watching a helicopter at night in far off distance with its navigation lights blinking red blue green yellow but it was a star.
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Just a small spec far off in the dark nite sky twinkling red, blue, yellow, white green hues but no sound so I & all my home family agreed must a chopper hovering way off and high.

Taking small interested we casually observed it a short time, later it moved off to the north then I guess returned,,, but it wasn’t a chopper was it because the next night it was back same location...This time I watched more carefully and concluded it was a star or planet.. A quick stellarium search found it Sirius a twin star that when rising low in sky can twinkle many colors due to atmosphere..


It seemed to move off as its location as was perfectly masked by Jet star JQ16 flight Hobart to Melbourne passing by ( a few million light years closer) :)


jq716.PNG
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why does sirius twinkle
https://www.universetoday.com/92678/why-does-sirius-twinkle/

Sirius appears to twinkle or shimmer more than other stars for some very simple reasons. It is very bright, which can amplify atmospheric effects and it is also very low down in the atmosphere for those in the northern hemisphere. We are actually looking at it through a very dense part of the atmosphere which can be turbulent and contain many different particles and dust.
Content from External Source
This is best similar youtube vid i could find with out to many hokum claims


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4PpGPudn_c
 
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There are rules about aircraft lighting which limit the colours to red, green, and white. So if you see something flashing blue or yellow, you can pretty much rule out an aircraft right off the bat.

Each individual authority has it's own specific rules but generally they follow the same international standard. This is the Canadian one.
 
There are rules about aircraft lighting which limit the colours to red, green, and white. So if you see something flashing blue or yellow, you can pretty much rule out an aircraft right off the bat.

Each individual authority has it's own specific rules but generally they follow the same international standard. This is the Canadian one.
Is it possible that blue, yellow, or white could appear as another colour?

Also, when you say they "generally" follow the international standard, does that mean there are exceptions?
 
Also, when you say they "generally" follow the international standard, does that mean there are exceptions?

I don't know of any exceptions, and I can't really think of any good reason why some aviation authority wouldn't follow the standard. After all if aircraft from your country need to fly into another country, they'd need to follow the destination's rules anyways.
 
- On a small, private airplane, when the lenses get old, they get might get cloudy and/or change color somewhat. From red to orange. From green to blue/green. From clear to cloudy yellow.

-There might be dust, smoke, smog etc. in the air.
 
I thought I was watching a helicopter at night in far off distance with its navigation lights blinking red blue green yellow but it was a star.
.Just a small spec far off in the dark nite sky twinkling red, blue, yellow, white green hues but no sound so I & all my home family agreed must a chopper hovering way off and high.

A quick stellarium search found it Sirius a twin star that when rising low in sky can twinkle many colors due to atmosphere..

Sirius would rise about 9:10 p.m. local time in the ESE. It takes some time to rise above the clutter on the horizon.

This is best similar youtube vid i could find with out to many hokum claims


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4PpGPudn_c


Out of focus!
 
Sirius would rise about 9:10 p.m. local time in the ESE. It takes some time to rise above the clutter on the horizon.




Out of focus!


yes my home on the side of hill looks east & has almost full 180 of horizon view and it was well up by 10pm..
The amazing thing is i'd never had come across this phenomenon before,, sure stars twinkle & planets have hues of color depending on atmosphere of the day but the of the strength of red white blue yellow colors of sirius those 2-3 nites was profound i suspect due to the dark clear cool evening skys we had & even tho the point of light was star sized it took my and family's interest we all 1st thought hmm must be aircraft way off..

yes shame i could not capture it on camera or film as dont have equipment and any attempt gave me just a ridiculous blur spot... so i dug about ytube for example but only wanted to use this vid as all others where sadly claiming UFO planet x etc etc
 
almost to the day 2 years later sirius the twin star fooled me again as lay my head down on pillow i could swear aircraft lights in the N east sky out my window moved last nite left to right then stopped and seemed to hover.. Its amazing how it twinkles red green blue..
 
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