2005-06-09 - Torrington, CT - Light

Two Jupiters!!!

I just saw this minutes ago.

I went out on my porch to have a cigarette. I looked up at Jupiter. I am very familiar with the night sky as I have enjoyed amateur astronomy all my life. I own a nice telescope and have been observing Jupiter and Saturn within the last week.

As I looked up to see Jupiter I was very surprised. There were two of them! This really threw me and confused me. The reason I say there were two Jupiters is that both objects looked identical in magnitude, size and even color. Jupiter is a yellowish-white to the eye. I knew one of these objects could not be Jupiter, so I watched carefully for movement. I did not see any movement or seperation whatsoever. Both objects were completely still in the sky. I noticed that the northern-most object had a fainter star-like object very close by.

So I was utterly confused. I did not know what this second object was. I stared at both for about 15 seconds (I wasn't sure which was the real Jupiter). Then I noticed that the one to the north started to dim out as did it's companion. The sky is clear tonight, no clouds at all, very good visibility. This object was about 5 degrees or a fist held at arms length north of Jupiter. It took about 15 seconds to dim. I could still see this object as a very faint star-like object for about another 15-20 seconds. Then I could see it no more. I watched for several minutes but did not see this object again. I came right in to make this report.

I don't know what this object was but it did not move at all the entire time I observed it. I am very familiar with aircraft and satellites. It did not make any sound whatsoever. There were no clouds. I could still see all surrounding stars the entire time.