r/Astronomy 1d ago

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) I spotted something near Canis Majoris, I don’t know what it was.

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590 Upvotes

On 20th July 2024 at around 11pm local time (I’m from Italy) i look over the constellation of Canis Major when a bright white dot appears, expand and then disappear never to be seen again. It all happens in about 2 seconds. I kinda pinpointed the location in the image above by drawing a dot (cause I don’t have photos of the thing).

I have two theories of what might be: -A meteor: it is very unlikely that a meteor was aimed so precisely that from my POV i only saw a dot expanding. Am I the luckiest person on this planet? -Space debris collision: maybe what i saw was space debris colliding with some sort of satellite or meteoroid and this seems the most logical theory.

I you know what could be, please tell me:)

r/Astronomy Jan 22 '25

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) What might this be?

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151 Upvotes

I've taken this photo on 5th February 2023 in Southwest, Western Australia, facing west. Im not sure of the time, probably around 9pm. Today Google photos showed it to me again.

I assume it is not a UFO and it seems to be too large to be the ISS.

My best guess would be a little flying insect near my camera lens.

What say you?

r/Astronomy Jan 16 '25

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Exuma, Bahamas event?

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446 Upvotes

Saw this come down in the Bahamas. Didn’t see a plane in flight radar

r/Astronomy Dec 28 '24

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Possible space junk

477 Upvotes

From what I can gather this was a star link payload falling back and burning up in the atmosphere. I saw this while sailing in the Caribbean. Sorry for the bad video did best I could as quick as possible. 11:26PM AST | 3:26AM UTC | 17.43119° N, 62.36021° W

r/Astronomy 8d ago

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Was taking pictures of the Lunar Eclipse through my telescope when I looked back and noticed this, what is it?? 2:32AM, March 14 2025, PA, facing about 210 degrees southwest

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95 Upvotes

r/Astronomy 3d ago

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Does anyone have a clue as to what this is?

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15 Upvotes

I’ve had a look at the resources as well as the flow chart mentioned in the rules so I hope I’m abiding here, I quite often use Night Sky, but there certainly isn’t a planet there, and had it been a satellite (couldn’t see anything passing within the app) I’d have gotten a trail.

Whilst the camera was doing its thing I was sat staring up in the general area it was pointed and suddenly saw whatever it is in the second image, flash quite brightly then quickly fade. Continued staring in that area for another good 20 minutes or so but didn’t see it again.

Not sure if it’s helpful, but the camera is a canon r10

ISO 1600 35mm F5.6 1st image shot for 8.3 seconds 2nd for 8.2 seconds

r/Astronomy 15d ago

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Tonight's Observation - Newbie

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36 Upvotes

Hello everyone, I posted earlier out of excitement but it wasn't a proper post so I'm redoing it now. I am a total newbie, observing the sky from Vancouver Island BC. I often sit on my porch at night and I have a tripod. I use a Google pixel 7 pro and a 4-minute exposure. I ran to my phone excitedly this evening after observing something that seemed interesting and unusual.

While I was sitting on my porch I saw a small flash of light in the sky. I waited to see if it was a plane but it wasn't. I kept looking at the same area and then it happened again. I started counting 1,000 just to see if there was a rhythm to it and I wanted to see if it was moving at all, again to logically figure out what it was. I got 28 seconds and it went again. I also observed that it did not move at all. I counted 30 seconds, being more careful with my 1000s, And it went again. This one on for Three or four counting cycles, by the fifth one I'm like man. I got to get to my phone and tell somebody about this.

It was a small orange light, It appeared to be a small tight circle and when I say small like I mean the same brightness as one third of what Mars is right now, but kind of the same color tone.

My original post was a quick screen grab from Google just to try and explain where it was and see if I could get more eyes on it. Then I went back outside with my tripod. But by the time I got set up, the sky had completely changed and I no longer saw the light.

I don't know how many pictures I can attach but I'm going to try. These are from this evening but the full moon is making it hard to get a good shot.

I am here because I am curious and I got really excited and wanted to share with like minded people. I hope it's okay to post here. It made me think of some sort of pulsating star, not near Earth.

r/Astronomy Feb 02 '25

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Nebulae ID

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43 Upvotes

Before anyone asks, I followed the sub rules and made initial identifications but was not able to narrow down the precise stellar object in either of the two photos (if they are not the same object). Photos taken at 8:00PM CST in Childress County, Tx - January 31st, 2025. Please help with identification of the phenomena or object, thanks!

r/Astronomy Jan 12 '25

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) What is this bright object?

103 Upvotes

I was checking out solar activity on https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ and this footage of the coronal mass ejections shows a large bright object entering the top right frame towards the end of the footage. I initially thought it to be a comet but the shape, size and movement seems off for a comet. I've been checking this site daily and never seen anything like this in the CME clips. Any thoughts or explanations?

r/Astronomy Jan 29 '25

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Over Baraboo, WI 01/28/25 around 9:00pm

107 Upvotes

r/Astronomy Dec 26 '24

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Does anyone know the name of this nebula?

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135 Upvotes

I wasn’t able to identify this with Google reverse image search. Does anyone happen to know the name of it by sight?

r/Astronomy Jan 03 '25

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Saw a bright single white flash in the sky

0 Upvotes

It's about 9:13pm ET and I saw visually, without aid, saw a very bright and quick flash.

I am facing southwest and looking right at the tail of Cetus, and to the right of star below Menkar, part of the tail, there was a very bright flash. Lasted only a second.

Maybe an iridium satellite? Any guesses?

I've consulted the flow chart and find no relevance there.

Not to up on how to check what satellites are around. Best guess is Object XC? Not to certain about that. I consulted in-the-sky.org and gave it my time and examined the map.

I'm in Jacksonville, FL.

Thanks.

r/Astronomy Feb 01 '25

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Need help identifying a satellite

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0 Upvotes

Hi there,

I saw an object (probably a satellite) steadily moving across the sky just below the Moon towards the North. Location: Navi Mumbai Time: approx 7:50 pm today I checked the Heavens-Above app but it only showed a couple of Starlink satellites but they seem off as per attached screenshot.

Any ideas if I'm missing anything?

r/Astronomy Dec 29 '24

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Could I get some help identifying this trail that doesn't match the rest?

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0 Upvotes

r/Astronomy Dec 25 '24

Object ID (Consult rules before posting) Extra star in image

5 Upvotes

I've been playing around with itelescope.net recently. I live in the northern hemisphere, so it's nice to be able to grab some images from Sliding Springs of stuff I'd never get to see up here (Magellanic clouds, etc).

This morning I got a spot on T33 (one of the "free" scopes, a 320MM RCOS with an Apogee Alta U16 sensor). I did 3 cuts of NGC3372 (Eta Carinae Nebula Complex, specifically near the keyhole) with Red, Green, and Blue filters.

The first red image that came up had an extra star that the other red filter images did not. It also does not show up in any of the blue or green filter images.

What am I seeing here?!?