Brightest star ive seen

Im on the East Coast of Australia and looking West towards the Moon is a very bright star about 7 o'clock of the moon with another star in between it and the Moon.

Any idea what this is, its brighter than the moon?

a reply to: Forensick
Hard to tell, since the moon moves across the sky during the night. The internet offers up-to-date charts of the night sky.
Might it be Jupiter? Jupiter was very visible in the UK six months ago, so perhaps it has shifted round to your hemisphere.

Funny you should bring this up, I saw it last night(Central West NSW, one of the best star gazing places on the planet apparently), definitely caught my attention as it was easily as bright as the moon. Clouded over here now so can't see it.
I thought it was probably a planet but never seen one so bright before.

a reply to: Forensick

Try this site out.

a reply to: Forensick

Venus.....idk if it was an or pm there at 7

originally posted by: Forensick
Im on the East Coast of Australia and looking West towards the Moon is a very bright star about 7 o'clock of the moon with another star in between it and the Moon.

Any idea what this is, its brighter than the moon?

Mars has been the brightest star in the night sky these past 3 months or so over here in the UK, so maybe it's where you are now as it's slowly moving further away here..

originally posted by: Forensick
Im on the East Coast of Australia and looking West towards the Moon is a very bright star about 7 o'clock of the moon with another star in between it and the Moon.

Any idea what this is, its brighter than the moon?

It's the planet Venus, and the other "star" is Jupiter.



The best way to check what you're seeing in the sky is a free software called Stellarium. It's very useful.

My go to for "brightest thing in the sky other than the moon" is usually Jupiter but I'm in the US and have an affinity for Jupiter, since it was the first planet I saw through a scope.

a reply to: wildespace

There you go. Great pic from my backyard.

Thanks WS.

KInd regards,

bally

Stars twinkle, planets do not.
That alone would go a long way in identifying what you were probably observing.

originally posted by: TruthxIsxInxThexMist

originally posted by: Forensick
Im on the East Coast of Australia and looking West towards the Moon is a very bright star about 7 o'clock of the moon with another star in between it and the Moon.

Any idea what this is, its brighter than the moon?

Mars has been the brightest star in the night sky these past 3 months or so over here in the UK, so maybe it's where you are now as it's slowly moving further away here..

That Mars is so orangey red.......wild looking huh!

originally posted by: charlyv
Stars twinkle, planets do not.
That alone would go a long way in identifying what you were probably observing.

How do we know that stars are not just planets that we are told are suns?

Maybe our solar system is jam packed with trillions of planets. and beyond that there is nothing.

a reply to: Parishna

Because we have access to telescopes.

a reply to: Parishna

The interaction between the Moon and the Earth causes our seas to slosh around and causes the tides. The same interaction is part of the mechanics that generates heat inside the Earth.

If our relatively minuscule Solar System had 'trillions' of other planets, we'd experience a lot of effects that couldn't be hidden. Tides would be irregular and the way planets orbit the Sun would be unstable. Basically, if we had many more planets than we already have we probably wouldn't have evolved to know about it.

Are there any Apps similar to Stellarium for iPhone. I don’t have access to a computer. TIA
reply to: wildespace

originally posted by: Parishna

originally posted by: charlyv
Stars twinkle, planets do not.
That alone would go a long way in identifying what you were probably observing.

How do we know that stars are not just planets that we are told are suns?

Maybe our solar system is jam packed with trillions of planets. and beyond that there is nothing.

Spectroscopy, parallax measurements, and many other things. And the fact that stars twinkle. And the fact that they keep their relative positions on the celestial sphere instead of whizzing around the Sun each on their own orbit.

www.reddit.com...

originally posted by: FreeFalling
Are there any Apps similar to Stellarium for iPhone. I don’t have access to a computer. TIA
reply to: wildespace

There's Stellarium app for iPhone: itunes.apple.com...

a reply to: DISRAELI

Hard to tell, since the moon moves across the sky during the night.

And the stars with it. The change relative to the stars on a given night is very small.

originally posted by: GBP/JPY

originally posted by: TruthxIsxInxThexMist

originally posted by: Forensick
Im on the East Coast of Australia and looking West towards the Moon is a very bright star about 7 o'clock of the moon with another star in between it and the Moon.

Any idea what this is, its brighter than the moon?

Mars has been the brightest star in the night sky these past 3 months or so over here in the UK, so maybe it's where you are now as it's slowly moving further away here..

That Mars is so orangey red.......wild looking huh!

It's been spectacular these past months. The OP didn't say what he/she saw was white, so i took a guess at it bein Mars!

Brightest star I've seen: