Expert: Steven LJ Russo - 6/6/2010

Question
There is something that appears to be a bright star in the Western sky at night and in the Eastern sky in the morning.  I have a telescope so I've been watching it for the past couple of months.  It looks like a planet, but it does not behave like one.  I've seen it change shapes, it flickers, twinkles seems to pulsate and changes sizes. It has a black substance that moves.  Sometime it's lines, circles and once it was in diamond formation and once it looked like a human eye.  I sit on my porch with my telescope and am entertained for hours.  I've shared my telescope with others and everyone sees something different because it changes so rapidly.  I'm sure astronomers know it's there.  You regularly look at the night sky.  It's not Venus.  It does not resemble that planet in the least.  I don't think it's a planet, what is it?  I know that astronomers send out light beams that will tell them what planets are made of.  I'd love to know what the light beams say about what's in the night sky.

Answer
The object in the West in the evening is Venus.

The object in the east in the morning is Jupiter.

The flickering is due to the atmosphere of the Earth.

The other abberations you are seeing are probably due to some distortion in the optics of your scope.

Steve