Sure, we’ve said it before. But we’ll say it again, because it’s one of the neatest tricks in all the heavens. That is … Orion’s Belt points to Sirius. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. It’s up before dawn now but will be shifting into the evening sky as the months pass.
You can find Orion, even on this moonlit night. Trust me. If you go outside and look southward before dawn now, you’ll notice Orion’s Belt, which consists of a short, straight row of medium-bright stars. Just draw a line through Orion’s Belt and extend that line toward the horizon. You’ll easily spot Sirius, the sky’s brightest star.
Sirius is in the constellation Canis Major the Greater Dog. It’s often called the Dog Star.
I’m from the Philippines.We just saw a star shining so brightly like it’s about to explode then suddenly fades it light then shine again so brightly with 4 rays with the upward ray the longest of the 4 rays.This goes on for about 5 minutes then now the star is back to it’s normal glow.Is this the Sirius star? I am seeing it in the Eastern sky where the moon is rising.Thank you.
Mia, on the date that you asked this question, Jupiter was near the moon. I suspect you were seeing Jupiter. It’s very bright!
Deborah
very bright star tonight looks like it will explode low in the sky!
Mike, bright stars seen low in the sky twinkle more than when they’re higher overhead. That’s because – when you look low in the sky – you’re looking through a greater thickness of Earth’s atmosphere than when you look overhead. The atmosphere can cause bright stars to twinkle – even appear as if they’re moving around.
It might have looked like it was going to explode when you saw it low in the sky. But it didn’t explode. And maybe when it got higher up you ceased to notice it because it began to look like an ordinary bright star.
Deborah
Live in Cleveland Ohio And waning gibbous my ass there is no moon out and its clear as can be and btw there was a about full bright as can be moon at last night i always look at the sky for hours sometimes at night i have a bad feeling and why is everyone ignoring the weird signs
Brandon, a waning gibbous moon rises late at night. I suspect you were looking for the moon before it had risen.
Deborah
Rode thru Ohio a couple hours ago and the freaking moon was blood red!! scary!!! but now im in Michigan and i cant see it at all
Neen, a “blood red” moon seen low in the sky looks that way because its light is shining through a greater thickness of atmosphere than when the moon is higher up.
Chances are, when you got to Michigan, there was thin cloud in front of the moon ….
I’m not sure why everyone is so scared of everything. The world is not ending. It’ll be fine. We’ll survive to have to face our real challenges, here in the 21st century.
All best,
Deborah
yeah the moon liked awesome last week wth the harvest moon, over the Nz, wished my phone had a gud camera, nice and red and low in the sky till later evening.. Even my boyz loved it it was wooow!
Luv the posts on fb, been getting me outside more often, I read sumthing bout the constellation sag, that its being riped apart or unstable? Is that true, thats my star sign.
the moon looked awesome not liked, lol, I have to proof read b4 sendin
This morning, some time between 6.30 and 6.45am (UK GMT) looking from (co ordinates I think I have looked up correctly as 51°46?38?N 1°29?07?W? / ?51.77725°N 1.48540°W) there was a star that burst into a bigger, brighter star for a few seconds then faded to nothing. It took about 10 seconds to go completely and never came back – its been puzzling me all day what was it? There is supposed a satellite dish crashing into us at the weekend would it look like that?
Josie,
You might have seen an iridium flare satellite. You can check out the Heavens-Above web site at http://www.heavens-above.com to see if an iridium flare lit up your sky.
Bruce
I’m such a big fan of Sirius, we’ve named our daughter Sirius. She’s the brightest light in our lives. I’ve recently started explaining where her name comes from (she’s 6). She loves the bright star she’s named after. And loves it when I point it out to hesr in the sky.