What is the bright blue/white shimmering star looking Southeast-east in early evening?.?

Question

Astronomy question!
Thought it might be Deneb, but then read that Deneb is in western sky...
It appears to flash blue and white
Appears early evening, around twilight
Noticed it in November, now in Feb it's still evident although seems to have slipped a bit south.

Answer 1

The above are correct that it is Sirius, the brightest star at -1.44 magnitude. It rises just after sunset in the southeast. I looked it up in my Voyager planetarium application.

Answer 2

You would not see the same star in the same place at the same time 3 months apart. Not possible.

You can often see Venus as a morning or evening star in a fairly similar location because it moves considerably in relation to the Earth.

The stars don't appear to move in relation to the Earth, except of course they appear to fly around us in the course of a day, purely due to the Earth rotating.

However, in three months the earth has done a quarter of its orbit around the sun. It thus has a 90 degree change in whatever stars appear in the sky at a particular time, and 90 degrees is the difference between overhead and down on the horizon.

So, you are seeing different stars, unless of course your viewing time between November and February differed by 6 hours.

Answer 3

This is probably Sirius that you are describing. It is the brightest star in the sky (after the sun of course). It's brightness causes it to be very twinkley so it flashes a lot of colors, especially when low to the horizon.

Answer 4

It could be Sirius. Sirius is in the south, and bright blue (I assume you live in the Northern hemisphere). If it is the brightest apparent star in the sky (not counting Venus), then it is Sirius.

Answer 5

definately Sirius. (northern hemisphere)