Am I seeing Venus, or something else?

Guys, I have a stupid newbie astronomy question for you. Right now (0335 est), I just went outside and noticed that there is an extremely bright object next to the moon. The moon is at about 80 degrees southeast of me, this object was not even a thumbs width away with my arm extended straight out. There is another bright star about 5 inches south of that, which i believe is a planet.

It is almost as bright as Venus was over the summer. Is this a comet, or is this Venus again? I have not seen anything that bright since the summer...

It could be Jupiter, that appears to be near the moon now.

Here's a star map site: www.fourmilab.ch...

Does Jupiter get that bright? There is another object that is about 5 inches south of the moon and this object, which is what I would consider, ”normal", planet brightness. This thing is almost as bright as Venus during its close approach over the summer.

I don't know but it couldn't be Venus, that's closer to the sun than Earth, so you only see it near the sun ie dawn or dusk. Put in your location in that site and it'll give you a map of the sky in your location.

That program shows a symbol for the moon and then an unnamed background star that appear in that area of the moon. Check it yourself; ST Petersburg FL is the closest local to where I am, zoom in on the moon (the 4 Symbol). The object is in the 11 O’clock Position about an inch from the moon. It is as bright a Venus was about one month after it transitioned the Sun. There is no way that an unnamed background star is going to be this bright. Where I am there is so much light pollution that only the VERY brightest of objects are visible here. So again is this a comet, or something that this program would not show.

Originally posted by defcon5
Does Jupiter get that bright?

Yes.

And under them there's alpha Virginis aka Spica, it's about 5 degree distance from Jupiter and Moon.

Here's one free skychart program.
www.ap-i.net...

Easiest way to know if it is a star or planet is that stars "Twinkle". Venus and Mecrury can only be seen near sun rise and sin set.

Originally posted by Jehosephat
Easiest way to know if it is a star or planet is that stars "Twinkle".

That doesn't have anything to do with fact is target planet or star.
Twinkling is disturbance caused by Earth's atmosphere, that's one of the reasons why telescope can work much effectively above atmosphere.

If you bend over and look up it could be Uranus!

Originally posted by E_T

Originally posted by Jehosephat
Easiest way to know if it is a star or planet is that stars "Twinkle".

That doesn't have anything to do with fact is target planet or star.
Twinkling is disturbance caused by Earth's atmosphere, that's one of the reasons why telescope can work much effectively above atmosphere.

actaully, your partially right. Planets twinkle but it is not noticable to the human eye as a star twinkle
www.physlink.com...

yes ok but does anyone know what was that light?
I saw it from here too (italy)