On Saturday 01/21/07, there was a very bright star underneath the crescent moon. What is that star?

Question

That star underneath the moon was the only one around the moon and it was glowing unusually bright. Is this just a dying star near the moon? And I know it's not the North Star because it was in the west.

Answer 1

Not a star, but a planet -- the planet Venus (often mistakenly called the Evening Star or the Morning Star because it is so bright).

We saw it Saturday night fairly close to the crescent moon. Beautiful!

Answer 2

Planets can appear very bright in the night sky. It's time for Venus right now. When Mars is in the sky, on a clear night it actually had a red tint to it.

If you look at a planet, it doesn't 'twinkle' like stars do. The planet is close enough to the earth that the light reflected from it is able to make it through our atmosphere with no distortion. Stars, on the other hand, have light that is traveling such a huge distance that by the time the light hits our atmosphere, it causes the effect of twinkling.

So, whenever you look up in the sky, if it twinkles, it's probably a star well out of our solar system. If it doesn't, it's probably one of our planets within the solar system . . . or a satellite.

Answer 3

It wasn't a star. It was the planet Venus. Venus is normally the brightest celestial object other than the Sun and Moon.

Answer 4

it might actually have been Venus. The brightest star in the sky is Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major, the Great Dog.

Answer 5

Venus. the brightest natural point of light there is.

Answer 6

Probably venus. Try plugging your date and time and location in here:

http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Yoursky

Remember to click the radio buttons on what you want to see...

: )