Flashing star?

Question

there is this one very very small star that is flashing very rapidly what is this is it a planet or something different? no other stars are flashing like this one, im 100% sure it isn't a plane me and a friend were laying on the beach and it wasnt moving what is it?

Answer 1

Google: "Project Bluebeam" and keep watching the sky for the show!

Even if some look like planes keep watching...

they will brighten... dim... disappear... speed up... change appearance... rush forward sometimes in quick little leaps...

get too close to another one... and even land!

Answer 2

It could be a supernova or a gamma ray burst in action.

Answer 3

I think it was aliens signaling to you. They want to know if they can use you as a guinea pig for their human experiments.

Answer 4

Planets do not flash.  And there were no visible gamma ray bursts or supernova in the last three months.  You were probably looking at a plane.  If it's heading towards you, it may not seem to move for 20 minutes or more.  If it was flashing regularly, it was a plane.  If it was flashing irregularly, or twinkling, it was just a star, especially if it was near the horizon.

Answer 5

this all depends on where it is ?

is it along the horizon ? earth's atmosphere is making it appear to blink.

arcturus flashes rapidly right over head west-ish right now  . I was looking at it last night and it was-at zenith point. ( meaning straight overhead.)

Answer 6

It could be a pulsar, which is a spinning neutron star. But I highly doubt it, they are very far away (thus faint).

Answer 7

its just the atmosphere. every star flashes, but heres why you might not notice it

1. when you focus in on an object you tend to use the center of your vision (duh) which isnt very oriented on detail (which is why you sometimes see dim stars in your periphial vision, but cant see it when u focus on it). so because of that you dont see the subtle changes in color.

2. if there isnt alot of pollution or smoke around where you live the star may need to be fairly bright for you to notice the color change. pollutants high in the atmosphere are the main reason for the change from red to blue. the pollutants tend to reflect more red light back towards you (same reason why the sky is more orange at night)

this is not a dying star, supernova, or gamma ray burst, i cannot stress that enough! thats an old myth that needs to die. stars do not change color when they are going to go supernova. for one, if a supernova were visible to the naked eye it would be huge, immensely bright (could actually light up the night sky for a brief second), and the actual light would only last for a second. if it were a gamma ray burst we would have a bigger problem. for a gamma ray burst to be visible to the naked eye it would pretty much have to be aimed at earth, which would mean the extinction of every species on the planet, with the possible exception of bacteria

Answer 8

This depends on where it is in the night sky, there is the possibility of a satellite but that is kinda remote.  If it is in the east in the early evening or predawn it can be Venus if atmospheric conditions are right, its not always easy to say exactly what something is especially because different locations see different things.