By Ragini Chaturvedi | 2023-05-31
On 06/01/2023 06:32 pm by Soumyadeep Mukherjee| Kolkata, India
๐๐๐ง๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ง ๐๐ค๐ฒ
A mysterious object appeared in the western sky earlier this evening. Here is the story: at around 6:25 PM IST, I peeped through the window and saw two bright objects in the western sky. One of them I instantly recognized as Venus. The other one, however, I first mistook as Mars. It was bright, almost as bright as venus. I quickly grabbed my camera and went to the terrace for a picture at 6:32 PM IST. I was able to take a picture in a hurry. Then I thought of making a better composition and took a couple of minutes to adjust the settings. To my surprise, the object (I was still thinking of it as Mars) wasn't visible in the camera screen and also with naked eyes. I thought it was because of the clouds. I waited for another 10 minutes and still could not see the object. I took a few images and was unable to find it on the back of my camera.
This was when I started to realize that it couldn't have been mars. Currently, Mars is way too faint to be seen at that time of the twilight. It wasn't also in the position where Mars was supposed to be. The object was located towards the west of Venus and was around 10-12 degrees away and it was stationary.
And I'm still guessing what it could have been. A weather balloon? But then it should have been moving (but it wasn't). What are your thoughts? Feel free to ask for the RAW image, if you want to inspect.
Image captured with Nikon Z6ii, Sigma 50mm f/1.4, Leofoto Tripod
Exif: f/4, 1/60s, ISO 640, 50mm
Location: Kolkata, India
Nikon Z6ii, Sigma 50mm f/1.4, Leofoto Tripod
Photoshop