Question about stars (the ones in the sky)

[Thomas Micklewright]

The other night I was in Wittering (south coast) and saw about 8 shooting stars, what I believe to be 3 satelites and also saw a very bright star grow brighter, and then dim and then disappear.

Was that a star dying?

Just wondering if there are any ED astonomers that could help?

Thanks

Thomas

[*Bob*]

Thomas Micklewright Wrote:

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> Was that a star dying?

How long were you standing there?

[mockney piers]

I think you're describing a supernova. I don't think it would happen that quickly as the matter would be visible for quite some time (days to weeks).

In fact had a quick swizz on Nasa to see if there have been any recent ones, and there have been but not visible as described by you, in fact one of them was detected 400 years after one bright enough to be seen by the naked eye did occur.

Was there a distant house on a dark cliff that looked like it was in the sky where there was a lad playing with a dimmer switch in one of the rooms perhaps?

[DulwichFox]

Thomas Micklewright Wrote:

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> The other night I was in Wittering (south coast)

> and saw about 8 shooting stars, what I believe to

> be 3 satelites and also saw a very bright star

> grow brighter, and then dim and then disappear.

>

> Was that a star dying?

>

> Just wondering if there are any ED astonomers that

> could help?

>

> Thanks

>

> Thomas

Simple answer is No...

Stars take millions of years to die out and are not visible even before they die.

When a star 'dies' (by that I mean when there are no more nuclear fusion reactions going on in it), it can take three different forms. Depending on the initial mass of the star, it will become either a white dwarf, a neutron star or a black hole.

You can immediately rule out seeing black holes because they don't emit any light, and neutron stars because they are too small. This leaves us with white dwarfs, which are the larger of the three possible end products for stars. Unfortunately, you will not be able to see even the brightest white dwarf.

More detail...

Here

[red devil]

...or had you previously been staring at a lightbulb* for an unhealthily long time?...

http://us.cdn3.123rf.com/168nwm/mylifeiscamp/mylifeiscamp0906/mylifeiscamp090600020/4981953-male-portrait-staring-at-new-light-bulb-isolated-on-black-background.jpg

*energy saving/eco-conscious of course

[DulwichFox]

The explosion of a supernova occurs in a star in a very short timespan of about 100 seconds.

When a star undergoes a supernova explosion, it dies leaving behind a remnant: either a neutron star or a black hole.

Details Here.

[DJKillaQueen]

Alien life? :))

[Salsaboy]

Any sign of Vic Reeves with the shooting stars?

[Chick]

Twas probably the intenational space station, was it travelling from west to east?

[Huguenot]

I can't get the fly-by details for last week, but these are the times that the ISS is visible in Wittering over the next few nights, along with other satellites.

For those of you in East Dulwich, here are the times satellites are visible in ED.

The ISS is the second brightest thing in the sky after the moon, and it flies by every 90 minutes. However most of the time at night it'll be in the Earths shadow.

What Thomas Mickelwright will have seen is the transition from sunlight to shadow.

[Salsaboy]

What a fantastic website!

[Huguenot]

Really cool.

We can't see the ISS down here, but we do get the Hubble Telescope, and loads of space junk that the Chinese have chucked up there over the last two decades. Messy buggers.

[PeckhamRose]

Indeed a great website. I also remember hearing about an App you can download so that if you are in the countryside or at least the night sky full of stars is very bright, you aim your iPhone camera at it and the App will tell you what is what as a result of what the camera can see. But I don't have time to find that for you. Sorry!

[Thomas Micklewright]

Cheers guys very interesting, thanks for the links.

Tom

[Huguenot]

It's called Star Walk - 5 Stars Astronomy Guide.

It's a work of exceptional genius. I may just have to get myself an iPhone for this. Beautiful.

[siousxiesue]

PeckhamRose Wrote:

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> Indeed a great website. I also remember hearing

> about an App you can download so that if you are

> in the countryside or at least the night sky full

> of stars is very bright, you aim your iPhone

> camera at it and the App will tell you what is

> what as a result of what the camera can see. But

> I don't have time to find that for you. Sorry!

I've got this app! One of very few I was interested in, called Google Sky Map-just love it....

[Salsaboy]

Me too - fantastic!

[David Mc]

Don't know about the disappearing star, but I think it wasn't likely to be a supernova. They're quite rare and pretty spectacular:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova

The shooting stars are probably the Perseids:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids

[PeckhamRose]

I need to get me an iPhone if ONLY for that App! I expect I am the only one here who has not yet bothered!

[mockney piers]

there are a couple of such apps for android as well.

'Star Chart' is really nice.

[LHemphillix]

Just a little more astronomical nerdiness. It probably wasn't a supernova, but if it was, then it also doesn't represent a star dying now but rather one dying a long time ago. The Milky Way galaxy is about 100,000 light years in diameter, which means that the light from that star, if it was a star, could take tens of thousands of years to reach the earth. Of course if it was the ISS then whatever was happening with it was much more recent.

[GrahamP]

I have found this site to be excellent for watching the ISS.

http://esa.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&lat=51.517&lng=-0.105&loc=London&alt=18&tz=GMT

Shows a map of the night sky plus the ground track. Just need some clear nights in the next week or two.