Can anyone help me

[alexanderd]

I recently returned from Cyprus and saw a bright light in the sky which I assumed was Venus, it appeared each evening and travelled east to west. However later in the night, say about 10 or 11 pm it was seen to be tavelling west to east, have checked space station site but that does not seem to be it. Anyone any ideas? I am stumped

[jomifl]

you may have see venus in the west in the evening and jupiter in the east as it rose a bit later after venus had set. could you actually see that it was moving and was it in the same approx position every evening?

[mibn2cweus]

With respect to the Earth's direction of rotation, in the course of any single evening anything appearing to move west to east would not be a planet or star. A satellite in sub-synchronous orbit is a likely culprit however an illusion of west to east movement can be derived with reference to clouds moving in the opposite direction.

An attempt to firmly identify the object in question might be facilitated by marking its position relative to other celestial objects along with noting the time observed. Accurate time information is especially critical when using the Moon as a reference as it will move a considerable distance with respect to background stars in the course of a single evening. In addition, the Moon's position at any time amongst background stars is subject to the location of observation and can in fact determine whether or not one sees a solar eclipse. Using rising, setting and transit times or terrestrial landmarks to establish an objects identify also requires accurate information on the observer's location, time and time standard used.

In the meantime the west to east anomaly you've witnessed is obviously a UFO.

[jomifl]

dammit why didn't I think of that

[alexanderd]

Been out all day and just logged on, thanks for your answers. I think, reading my original post I misled you and I apologize. Whatever it was appeared low in the west just after the sun set, about 7.30 each evening . Usually we were sat outside in a small village just outside Larnaca and the sky was clear. We were able to watch this object climb to very high in the sky but from about 10pm it was definitely going in the opposite direction, back to where it came from although I didnt stay up all night to watch it. It occured every night I was there and definitely has me completely flummoxed

[jomifl]

There is a russian synchronous satellite that goes from south to north every evening and then goes south again.(this enables high latitude reception for a short period every evening in places that wouldn't be able to 'see' an equatorial synchronous satellite. It can't be that though because it would not be to the west of you.

[alexanderd]

Jomifl thanks for replying, if it was north to south over Russia and back again could that take it over Cyprus, seems likely to me

[jomifl]

I don't know what longitude it is on but it is a possibility. Might be worth a google.

[mibn2cweus]

With the setting of Venus soon after sunset the next most obvious object currently in the night sky following the Moon and Venus would be Jupiter rising in the east coinciding with the setting of Venus. Other than the possibility of mistaking the other for the one I can offer no other explanation for your observations.

[alexanderd]

Thanks for trying to help I am not great on astronomy and will now spend some time on Google. Thanks again
alex

[jomifl]

It is known as a molniya orbit and is lower than a geostationary orbit, there appears to be several in use simultaneously google 'molniya', there is quite a bit of info.

[bibblebub]

Stellarium http://stellarium.org/ is a good (and free) planetarium program for home use to see exactly what is in the sky where you are - Jupiter and Uranus are at this moment visible towards the SSE.

[mibn2cweus]

Jupiter, being so obvious now in the night sky it shouldn't be hard to distinguish from a satellite, especially with a decent binocular with which you should be able to see two or three of its moons aligned with the planet. Have you been able to rule out Jupiter as a suspect?

[alexanderd]

Jupiter definitely not ruled out but because it travelled one way then back again this molnia orbit sounds promising especially if it was travelling north to south and back again it would possibly be visible in Cyprus