Hi all! I haven't posted here in quite a while, but I've just seen something that has me mystified. I got a call from a friend who is a casual sky observer asking me about a star he was looking at. It was twilight in our area (Western New York state) and there were no other stars visible in the sky which was clear. He'd been watching this thing for 15-20 minutes. So, the time frame is from about 8:20 p.m. (Eastern time) to about 8:45 p.m. He asked if it was Venus. I replied that it couldn't be because Venus was below the horizon. I went outside to look and readily saw what he was watching. Then I went back inside, grabbed my binocs, and had a quick look at it before it faded from view altogether.
Nearest I can tell is that this star was in the vicinity of Psi Ursa Major high in the northeast. It did not move so we ruled out aircraft. From the quick look I got through my binoculars before it faded, I thought I detected what looked to be small wisps of smoke very near the object. Anyway, this thing was quite bright - I'd estimate its magnitude to be brighter than Saturn currently, but a bit dimmer than Jupiter. Note that this was in a still fairly bright sky in which I could see no other stars yet.
Could it have been a variable star? Or a supernova? I ruled out meteors and falling space junk since the light was steady and stationary. I don't think it could be an iridium flare since I understand they don't flare for 15 to 20 minutes.
Any guesses, folks??
