I don’t personally keep track of the stars or anything, but i feel like this year the planets have really been lighting up. I first caught venus shining and mistook it for a helicopter, then all the planets were visible at the same time, and now jupiter is probably the brightest I’ve ever seen a star tonight. Not exactly sure why they’re showing out this year but it is beautiful.
Exact same thing happened to me about 2 weeks ago - Venus was one of the only objects I could see aside from the moon. Genuinely thought it was a helicopter for about 5 minutes.
Got to stare at a celestial object for longer than I have in a while though, so I'll call that a win.
you can spot aldebaran (a star in taurus, 65 light years away), jupiter under it, mars in that spot between the roof and the tree, orion’s belt, and next to it bellatrix and betelgeuse
i have chronic sleep problems and in a few bad weeks of it my last year of college i would sometimes go out to my balcony at the 3-5AM range (when i would begin to get antsy) to journal or smoke, i would look up and see this little star that was flashing different colors!!! kept me company
according to the internet, its name comes from the Greek word for sparkling and article linked explains why it flashes/twinkles rainbow colors!