What is that very bright star (brighter than sirius) due somewhat west every day this past week around NY, USA

Question

A very bright dot in the sky in the west these past few nights, is it venus?

Located, at 8:05pm, perhaps 30-40degrees above the horizon due west/northwest.

Answer 1

That is actually a planet !
Venus ..look to the right and down a bit to see Mercury too.

If you had binoculars or telescope you can observe it quite nicely. it has phases just like our moon.

Observing Venus

http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~huffman/venus.htm

here is this weeks sky !

http://skytonight.com/observing/ataglance

Sky Highlights of 2007
http://skytonight.com/observing/highlights/5027311.html

Answer 2

That would be the planet Venus, the brightest object in the night sky not including the moon. The star Sirius has the highest apparent magnitude of all the stars as seen from earth, so you couldn't see a star that's brighter than Sirius from earth unless your looking at the sun.

Answer 3

Venus

Answer 4

I'm surprised you don't know, that is the planet Venus. The brightest object in the sky besides the sun and the moon.

Answer 5

Yes, that would be Venus at magnitude -4 which sets after the sun does.

Answer 6

Eelfins answer is right. You ask which planet Sirius is between.....and for the reason that as quickly as we view the sky we are able to be certain planets among the celebs that's basic to think of that the planets and stars are placed in a similar section, yet this isn't any longer spectacular! the 1st element to bear in concepts is that NO stars are between planets, they are massive distances away!

Answer 7

yes its venus...if you get a chance look at it through a telescope..if you dont have access to a telescope, try and find someone who has binoculars...venus is ver beautiful and if you look at it through a telescope or a nice big pair of binoculars you can see that it has phases like the moon!!! good luck!!!

Answer 8

That's not a star...that's Venus.