Venus rising

WITH regards to that strange light in the sky over Malaga, the writer’s brother-in-law may well be right that it is Venus (UFO dispute, Letters issue 1439).

It is the brightest object in the morning sky at the moment, and the colours can come from the fact that the light from Venus is being defracted by the dust and water in our atmosphere into its constituent colours, a bit like a rainbow.

Most satellites that you can see will be moving slowly across the sky in a very smooth and non-blinking manner, so if the object was stationary it is unlikely to be a satellite.

Christine Ord (secretary of the Costa Blanca Astronomical Society)

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