I don't think it was Fomalhaut because it had a reddish tinge. From what I've read, Fomalhaut is a white star?

I think this episode again points out how little modern man really knows about the stars - that they change from season to season in terms of if we can see them and how high they rise (above the horizon). Some stars are most visible in certain months. So when we see something that we haven't seen before in a certain location, many people assume it's something "new", when it's just something we're unfamiliar with as you have to watch the skies regularly - for years actually - to have a complete understanding of what's normally out there.