[meteorite-list] Possible Supernova?

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:46:25 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C8698E543D_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi All,

I don't belong to any of the proper newsgroups to report this
sighting, but perhaps someone here can forward it or check up
on it.

Early Thursday morning May 24, I was driving northbound on
I-15 through the Cajon Pass (approaching Victorville, CA) and
starting at least as early as 5:10am PDT (12:10 UTC, 24 May)
I could plainly see Venus rising in the east before sunrise.
No big deal. Trouble is, there was a SECOND object of nearly
the same brightness above and to its right. Not sure of the
exact angular distance, but at least 25 or 30 degrees. Not
being a morning person, I was not familiar with what planets
to expect at that hour, so I just assumed the other bright
object had to be Jupiter. Indeed, I had difficulty deciding
which one should be Jupiter and which one Venus -- they were
both that bright.

Well, now that I finally have access to my computer, I see that
Venus was indeed one of the two objects, but the other could not
have been Jupiter (which does not currently rise until after
the sun). To give you an idea of the brightness, both were
still visible AFTER sunrise, though only until 5:49. They
were laid out as follows:


                *
             Mystery
             Object


            .
          Venus
 O
SUN

None of the relative positions of the objects moved over
the 40 minutes I observed them. Did anyone else see this,
or can anyone else confirm a new object in Pegasus?

Rob Matson
Received on Thu 24 May 2001 07:13:40 PM PDT