Strange light in the sky

[Shoju]

It was 3 or 4 weeks ago looking out the window at about 10pm that I first noticed what looked like an unsual star. The difference being that it was bigger and much brighter than all the other stars. I wondered why I'd never it before since it was in a position I normally look into the night sky when washing dishes in the kitchen. I got some binoculars to get a better a look at it and when I did it I could see it definetly wasn't a star. It looked like a small square shaped light hanging in the sky much lower than the stars but above the clouds, whatsmore it moved although very very slowly. After half an hour it moved out of sight. Every clear night since then I've seen it, I can see it from the back garden at about 8:30-9 and by about 10:30-11 it's crossed to the other side and out of sight. It always follows the same pattern at about the same time.

What could it be?

['Press Start']

Chinese Lantern?

[kryss]

Satellite or the ISS.

[BeyondJumpFish]

I've seen the ISS and its quite obvious when you see it in the night sky. Plus it travels quite quick, faster then whatever shoju is describing. Could have been a Lantern or something similar.
I think ive seen something in the past too. I worked on the fifth floor of an office and had a good panoramic view of the sky from my desk. It was about 8am and a saw a small round object in the sky. It was really reflective and seemed to change shape from a circle to a square to a pointy shape and back again. I pointed it out to someone else in the office who also saw it. Now it could have been a balloon or something and I doubt it was an alien ship but i have to say i haven't seen anything like it before.

[Shoju]

I think it's too high up to be one of those lanterns and it's been there following the same path (so slowly you can't actually see it move by looking at it) evey night for a month.

Satellite is the only thing I could think of but I all I can see through the binoculars is a small powerful square shaped light with nothing else visible around it.

[capcom_suicide]

UFO???

[EJG1980]

I reckon there's a pretty good chance it might be the star Sirius. It's the brightest star in the sky by some distance (twice as bright as the next brightest star) and at this time of the year is very very low in the sky, so it looks like it's separate from all the other stars, but it's actually just the only one bright enough to be seen that low down in the sky. At this time of year it would become visible and then drop below the horizon at roughly the times you mentioned.

Also when you look at a star through binoculars / telescope they are distorted by the atmosphere, and the distortions are worse the lower in the sky you get, which could account for the shape. Plus even being slightly out of focus on a star will have quite a large effect on the shape.

If you've got an iPhone (not sure about Android) there are quite a few astronomy apps that let you point the phone at the night sky, and it uses the GPS to work out where you are and tells you what object you're pointing at. If you used such an app and it says there should be nothing there, then it's clearly aliens

[Shoju]

I reckon there's a pretty good chance it might be the star Sirius. It's the brightest star in the sky by some distance (twice as bright as the next brightest star) and at this time of the year is very very low in the sky, so it looks like it's separate from all the other stars, but it's actually just the only one bright enough to be seen that low down in the sky. At this time of year it would become visible and then drop below the horizon at roughly the times you mentioned.

Also when you look at a star through binoculars / telescope they are distorted by the atmosphere, and the distortions are worse the lower in the sky you get, which could account for the shape. Plus even being slightly out of focus on a star will have quite a large effect on the shape.

If you've got an iPhone (not sure about Android) there are quite a few astronomy apps that let you point the phone at the night sky, and it uses the GPS to work out where you are and tells you what object you're pointing at. If you used such an app and it says there should be nothing there, then it's clearly aliens

I don't have an iphone but it really does look like a light that's not that distant, also once it moves out of sight from the garden I can still see it from the street when I go outside at that time.

it's been there on every clear night for a month and I'm wondering for how much longer it'll do this. How long is Sirius usually visible for and would it be there night after night for that long moving at that sort of speed?

[EJG1980]

When you say it moves, is it just moving sideways or is it gradually getting lower and lower in the sky too?

[smouty]

There were a lot of planets visible recently. Low in the sky and quite bright usually = planet.

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury

[EJG1980]

There were a lot of planets visible recently. Low in the sky and quite bright usually = planet.

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essent...saturn-mercury

Aye, Jupiter is especially low at the moment.

[EJG1980]

If you can work out what compass direction it's in at say 9PM and tell me the name of a nearby city I can look on Stellarium (superb free astronomy program) and see if there are any likely candidates in that area of the sky. Sirius is in the South West at the moment. Probably not Jupiter as I think it'd be too low in the sky to still be seen after 10PM at the mo.

[Shoju]

When you say it moves, is it just moving sideways or is it gradually getting lower and lower in the sky too?

I haven't watched for the point it moves out of sight of the garden for a while but it seems to move across the sky. When I went out on the street to follow where it'd gone one night, it looked just as high in the sky. It really does look like an artificial light to me, which is why I thought possibly sattelite since they too would follow a pattern. however all I see is a square light with nothing else visible around it through binoculars. Next time there's a clear night I'll watch more carefully to see exactly what it does and what it looks like again.

I'm not sure at all about compass directions but Im in West London Ealing.

[EJG1980]

Well if it was Sirius it would be gradually getting lower and lower in the sky as it moved along until it dropped below the horizon. If it's roughly the same height the whole time you can see it then it's not Sirius.

[Dazzyman]

Check the times for the space station to discount it buddy, but must admit it doesn't sound like that as I go outside and watch that a lot when it's visible here. Same when shuttle used to go up and dock etc