My wife believes she might have seen an alien ship over Reno. Any idea what it could be? (Likely Venus)

[syncrocrick]

For several nights a few weeks ago, we've noticed a large flashing object in the sky. It appears to be over Reno, looking south from highway 80 (see video)

I have no idea what it could be, but I'm curious if anyone has more information. I am assuming it's an easy one for the experts here!

 

[Mick West]

It appears to be Venus.

 

[JMartJr]

You can check that by downloading any of several astronomy apps, and seeing if it matches up...

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Additional info.

Stars scintillate due to atmospheric turbulence. Turbulence causes "turbulence cells" or "refractive index irregularities": regions of the atmosphere with different temperatures, densities, and moisture levels, which result in variations in refractive indices. The constant motion of these cells, caused by wind and atmospheric convection, leads to the distortion and scintillation of light from celestial objects.

Stars are effectively point sources of light, so atmospheric turbulence alters their appearance more dramatically than planets.

Venus has a measurable apparent size (disc) compared to the pinpoint light of stars. Different parts of its disc are refracted slightly differently, averaging out the scintillation effect. Seeing Venus scintillate like this is rare.

But when Venus is near the horizon and atmospheric conditions are highly turbulent, it can scintillate visibly. I suspect the weather was unsettled at the time.

The rapid change in color is "chromatic scintillation." Refractive index variations in the atmosphere refract different wavelengths in slightly different directions, causing rapid shifts in the apparent color.

If this turns out to be Venus, she should feel good that she got to see this rare display.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

But it could be Antares. If you were seeing it over many days, that perhaps might be the more likely candidate as Antares, low on the horizon, would typically scintillate. The focus doesn't appear to be great, so it would look bigger than it would with sharp focus.

It would help a lot if you could give us an exact time and date.

Nov 2 would be a good window, as Antares was more distant from both the Moon and Venus at the time.

Around October 11 would be an even better window.

 

[MonkeeSage]

It would help a lot if you could give us an exact time and date.

The video metadata has it:

GPS Coordinates : 39 deg 30' 25.20" N, 119 deg 51' 39.60" W, 1400.176 m Above Sea Level
Creation Date : 2024:10:25 18:57:26-07:00

It's what Mick's screenshot of Stellarium is showing.

 

[syncrocrick]

Thanks for the information! My wife still needs some convincing, though. She mentioned that the light was visible for several hours and that it didn't change in brightness, intensity, location, or flashing pattern from around 6:30 PM to 10:30 PM. Would that still be Venus or Antares?

 

[syncrocrick]

But it could be Antares. If you were seeing it over many days, that perhaps might be the more likely candidate as Antares, low on the horizon, would typically scintillate. The focus doesn't appear to be great, so it would look bigger than it would with sharp focus.

It would help a lot if you could give us an exact time and date.

Nov 2 would be a good window, as Antares was more distant from both the Moon and Venus at the time.

Correct - looking from 4000 Mayberry Dr, Reno, NV 89519, United States

 

[Mick West]

Thanks for the information! My wife still needs some convincing, though. She mentioned that the light was visible for several hours and that it didn't change in brightness, intensity, location, or flashing pattern from around 6:30 PM to 10:30 PM. Would that still be Venus or Antares?

Do you have videos at that different time?

Ideally, you'd do a long exposure photo, as late as possible, so the other stars could be seen.

 

[syncrocrick]

She only has a couple more not-so-great pictures from around the same time. She mentioned there were no other visible stars—or anything else in the sky, for that matter. I have to admit, I'm a bit baffled myself.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Correct - looking from 4000 Mayberry Dr, Reno, NV 89519, United States

So Nov 2 was the date?

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

She only has a couple more not-so-great pictures from around the same time. She mentioned there were no other visible stars—or anything else in the sky, for that matter. I have to admit, I'm a bit baffled myself.

That would point to Venus, as it's much brighter than anything around it. In the light filled sky at dusk Venus might appear to be alone in the sky, because everything else is dim.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

It's hard for me to believe that Venus was observed scintillating across several days.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Thanks for the information! My wife still needs some convincing, though. She mentioned that the light was visible for several hours and that it didn't change in brightness, intensity, location, or flashing pattern from around 6:30 PM to 10:30 PM. Would that still be Venus or Antares?

It couldn't be either because they were both setting at 6:30 and would be below the horizon at 10:30.

But... was this a continuous observation? Or once at 6:30 and then once at 10:30?

Intermittent observation can lead to a common error. People look at the same part of the sky hours later but aren't considering the fact that stars and planets move across the sky over time just as the Sun does.

They look at the same part of the sky, hours later, but are actually seeing a different astronomical body. By 10:30 Venus would be long gone: set below the horizon. But by 10:30 Fomalhaut would have moved across the sky and be in about the same part of the sky. Taking the place of Venus.

Fomalhaut is a bright star and would scintillate when low on the horizon. It's now full dark and would appear as bright as Venus did in the light filled sky of dusk.

But at 10:30 there would be lots of things visible in sky, wouldn't there? Saturn for one thing and Altair for another. Both would be visible even in a light polluted suburban sky.

So that contradicts the idea that there was nothing else visible in the sky. I suspect that the story is a bit muddled. Nothing else was visible around Venus at dusk, but at 10:30 there would be other things visible.

Unless... there were unnoticed clouds in the sky by that time.

 

[FatPhil]

It's hard for me to believe that Venus was observed scintillating across several days.

I'd not extend "scintillate" to what was filmed there. It fluctuated in colour, that's all, as bending all the light out of the way from an object with a disc is far less likely than a point source. Those affects are accentuated by the camera as it attempts to increase the brightness across the image, as it's night time, and effectively pushes colours towards the more distant (from black) corners of the colour cube, i.e. it over saturates them.

Why is people's knowledge of the sky inferior to that of the Assyrians, 3600 years ago? ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_tablet_of_Ammisaduqa )

 

[flarkey]

The video metadata has it:

GPS Coordinates : 39 deg 30' 25.20" N, 119 deg 51' 39.60" W, 1400.176 m Above Sea Level
Creation Date : 2024:10:25 18:57:26-07:00

It's what Mick's screenshot of Stellarium is showing.

The location and viewing direction of about 228 deg checks out ok..

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.507...try=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTExOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

We're looking SW in this Google Map view. Venus was in the SW at the time.

That brings up the old question: If the UFO was in the same part of the sky as Venus... where was Venus? The witness should have seen the UFO and Venus.

It looks pretty solid that the light we see in the video is Venus with Antares hidden behind the mountain.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Note that the chain link fence and sign are in good focus, which means Venus and the mountain are out of focus.

Exposure increased

Being out of focus, Venus looks larger and more mysterious.

The camera was probably in auto-focus mode.

 

[syncrocrick]

thanks everyone - we're going to go with the Venus answer. Now I just need to use my 20+ years of marriage expertise to convince her..

 

[John J.]

thanks everyone - we're going to go with the Venus answer

Totally subjectively, Venus has appeared to be very bright over the past couple of weeks, clearly visible at early dusk, long before I can see any stars / other planets.

November evening planets

In the first half of November, bright Venus will climb slowly in the southwest about 30 minutes after sunset. ...Venus will continue to ascend and become a dazzling evening star through the end of the year.

EarthSky website, (link) Visible planets and night sky guide for November,
Marcy Curran, John Jardine Goss, Deborah Byrd, Kelly Kizer Whitt 21/11/24

Venus sets about 2 hours after the sun on Nov. 1 and a healthy 3 hours after the sun on Nov. 30. This dazzling planet's sunset altitude as seen from around latitude 40 degrees north increases from about 16 degrees to 22 degrees over the course of the month.
...As darkness deepens, the planet's brilliance becomes dramatic: its magnitude improves from -4.0 to -4.2 this month.

Space.Com website, The brightest planets in November's night sky: How to see them (and when), Joe Rao 01/11/24

 

[psikiwi]

Why is people's knowledge of the sky inferior to that of the Assyrians, 3600 years ago?

Because today's culture, lifestyle or an individual's survival seldom depends on it? And those who need to know, know.

I have to remind myself that MB can be an echo chamber of it's own, and is not an accurate reflection of the general state of knowledge or reason of the general populace. What many here take for granted or common sense, is far from that. (insert link to your particular thread of choice here...)

Is it fair to say that while most Assyrians would have known the night sky major features, not many of them would have a copy of this OG 'Stellarium' to hand? Was this something for the specialist astronomer/elite/religious folk? Or also the Assyrian equivalent of MB?

 

[Ann K]

Why is people's knowledge of the sky inferior to that of the Assyrians, 3600 years ago?

Because (1) We have winter, and spend nights in our houses. (2) We have television and internet, and are not out looking at the sky. But the big one: (3) We have sky pollution, both from things in the sky and from the atmosphere, especially near the cities in which most of us live.

I was once at a ranger-led campfire talk about the sky and the constellations, in a national park in the American southwest desert. That was, seriously, the first time I had seen the Milky Way since my childhood. There were things on brilliant display that I had NEVER seen before in suburban Cleveland, and that's in spite of sky-watching by lying outside, flat on my back on the patio at zero degrees F, because the air was (comparatively) as clear as it ever gets at home.

 

[John J.]

Was this something for the specialist astronomer/elite/religious folk? Or also the Assyrian equivalent of MB?

I might be doing ancient civilisations a disservice, but I doubt a lot of organised debunking went on.
If something interesting or unusual were seen in the sky, the proto-astronomers- more like astrologers, I'd guess- would try and work out what it portended / which god was running the show.

E.g. (if not particularly ancient) I wouldn't fancy going to the Aztec Emperor and saying,
"I've looked at the figures, and it turns out there isn't a connection between crop yields and the number of human sacrifices..."

 

[purpleivan]

Why is people's knowledge of the sky inferior to that of the Assyrians, 3600 years ago? ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_tablet_of_Ammisaduqa )

Street lighting (and other sources of exterior lighting) probably account for a large part of the falloff in people's knowledge of the night sky.

Edit: Just noticed I was beaten to that comment by Ann K.

 

[RTM]

Because (1) We have winter, and spend nights in our houses. (2) We have television and internet, and are not out looking at the sky. But the big one: (3) We have sky pollution, both from things in the sky and from the atmosphere, especially near the cities in which most of us live.

I was once at a ranger-led campfire talk about the sky and the constellations, in a national park in the American southwest desert. That was, seriously, the first time I had seen the Milky Way since my childhood. There were things on brilliant display that I had NEVER seen before in suburban Cleveland, and that's in spite of sky-watching by lying outside, flat on my back on the patio at zero degrees F, because the air was (comparatively) as clear as it ever gets at home.

Yeah. I was on a camping trip a couple years ago in the Owens Valley/Mammoth lakes region of California and the milky way was clearly visible. Starlink flares were kind enough to make an appearance. My nightly view in Suburbia is pathetic compared to that, astrologers would never have made it in brightly lit neighborhoods.

 

[FatPhil]

Because (1) We have winter, and spend nights in our houses. (2) We have television and internet, and are not out looking at the sky. But the big one: (3) We have sky pollution, both from things in the sky and from the atmosphere, especially near the cities in which most of us live.

I was once at a ranger-led campfire talk about the sky and the constellations, in a national park in the American southwest desert. That was, seriously, the first time I had seen the Milky Way since my childhood. There were things on brilliant display that I had NEVER seen before in suburban Cleveland, and that's in spite of sky-watching by lying outside, flat on my back on the patio at zero degrees F, because the air was (comparatively) as clear as it ever gets at home.

As I've said many times, I'm bortle 9, and venus is the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon.

I just think that the concept of aliens from other planets being given higher priority than other planets is putting the cart before the horse.