What are the first stars that appear at night?

Question

Every night I look up at the sky to do some star gazing. Only recently have I take a huge interest in astronomy. Every night as soon as the sun sets I see a star to my right in the sky. An hour later I see another star in the sky, almost completely opposite of the first star and it's too my left this time.

What are these stars? They're brighter than the rest once the rest do actually come out. I think I read somewhere that the first star to emerge at night is Venus, is this true?

Thanks.

Answer 1

The first things you'll see are planets (Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars), then the brightest stars (closest, most massive, hottest)
Vega,Sirius, Arcturus, Fomalhaut, etc. A star chart will show you their current positions.

Answer 2

You need to go to
http://www.heavens-above.com

Set yourself up for your location, and it has a star map for the current time for your location.

You must understand that what you see in the sky changes over time. The star configurations change over the course of the year due to the earth's travel around the sun. The planets follow different rules because they circle the sun in their own orbits.

My guess is that the two objects you are seeing first are Venus and Jupiter - and that is simply because they are the brightest in the sky.

the stars will appear more and more as it gets darker, obviously the brighter ones first.

In a couple months the planet Venus will no longer be an "evening star", but will be visible early morning. In order to understand that, you need to realise that Venus orbits the sun inside our own orbit. So, from our vantage point, it is always either in the evening sky or the morning sky. You will never see Venus at midnight.

So, to really understand space, you need to think 3 dimensionally. Not many people can, and that's why they can not get their heads around planetary motions.

Good luck

Answer 3

At this moment in time (June, 2007) the bright "star" you see in the west is Venus; and the bright "star" you see in the southeast is Jupiter.

But the planets move throughout the months and years. By August or so, Venus will have moved around to a position more or less in front of the sun, and won't be visible for a while. Then it will pop out again, but then you'll have to get up before sunrise and look in the east to see it.

Meanwhile, Jupiter will be rising a little bit earlier each night. It should be visible until about November or December, at which time it'll be too close to the sun to see.

Saturn is currently visible too, pretty close to Venus. Not quite as bright as Venus, but still pretty bright. Tonight (June 14) it will be above and to the left of Venus. They'll be separated by a little bit more than the width of your fist held out at arm's length. They'll be moving closer and closer together every night, until June 30, when their separation will be less than the width of your little finger held at arm's length. If you watch every night, you'll definitely be able to see their positions change.

With your new interest in astronomy, you might consider getting a "planetarium" astronomy program. It'll show you exactly what's in the sky at any time (even centuries in the past and future) and at any place on earth. The one I have is called Starry Night. You can also find the positions of planets every night on a number of web sites; but having your own planetarium program is more fun.

Answer 4

First Star In The Sky

Answer 5

Ususally just after sunset, the planet Venus is usually the first, but if you look North at about a 45 degree angle you will see the North Star.

Answer 6

The bright one in the west is Venus

The somewhat bright one in the East is Jupiter

Overhead you will see a few real stars

Answer 7

yes every day we are being hit by space debree. most of it happens over the ocean and since the earth is 80 percent water that does not leave alot of area for people to see shooting stars happening. On another note there is also a solar and lunar eclipes happening somewhere on the earth at all times too, but you know with all that water we get very few chance to see it on land.

Answer 8

Click the link below, enter your ZIP code, get a current star chart. Select the date, time, view to the N, S, E, W or up. Turn off the constellation names for a better view of the planets.

http://www.wunderground.com/sky/index.asp

Answer 9

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I live in Los Angeles. Shooting stars don't appear even on nights with meteor showers. Too much light pollution reflecting against too much air pollution.

Answer 10

As RicB says,
1. venus in the east, followed by

2. jupiter in the south/east