i live in Canada.my boyfriends thinks the brightest light in the sky is the international space station. is it

Question

i was just wanting to know, because i thought it was a star,
or a planet

Answer 1

if the point of light is relatively fixed, no.
The ISS orbits the globe every 90 minutes (means it would move completely across your horizon in about 5 minutes) & does not always pass over the same areas (so you wouldn't see it night after night)
What you are seeing is probably a planet.
Check out Space.com/calender for a list of current objects in the night sky.

Answer 2

Well as others have said, the brightest natural lights in the sky are the Sun, the Moon, the planets Venus, Jupiter, and Mars, and the brightest star, Sirius, though not necessarily in that order because all but the Sun and Sirius vary in brightness. The International Space Station can be very bright, but not as bright as Venus, and is easily distinguished because it moves visibly across the sky. Currently Venus is a brilliant morning "star," rising in the east a few hours before the Sun and dominating the predawn sky.

Answer 3

The north star IS NOT the brightest star in the sky. This is the order of object brightness:

App. Mag. Celestial object
−26.73 Sun (449,000x brighter than full moon)
−12.6 Full Moon
−4.7 Maximum brightness of Venus
−2.9 Maximum brightness of Mars
−2.8 Maximum brightness of Jupiter
−1.9 Maximum brightness of Mercury
−1.47 Brightest star (except for the sun) wavelengths: Sirius
−0.7 Second brightest star: Canopus
-0.24 Maximum brightness of Saturn

The more negative the number here, the brighter the object. Now the ISS varies depending on where you are and where it happens to be and how the sunlight is reflecting off of it. It can be as bright as -3! Now there are other satelites that have massive solar pannels that will -for a few seconds - get very bright, like -8 or -9. So, to answer your question, in the middle of the night when Venus will surely be below the horizon, and assuming there isn't one of those rare satelite occurences, ISS at its brightest would be the brightest object in the sky. But taking all objects into account, venus is the brightest object of the night sky (minus sun and moon)

Answer 4

Wow. People know so little about the sky.

Please ignore the first answer. The North Star, or Pole Star, is not even in the top 50 brightest stars – not sure why people think it is the brightest.

Then, are you and your boyfriend not awatre that the SST moves? It goes around the globe in about 90 minutes. That means it is in your sky for just a few minutes – 10 minutes at the most.

The brightest objects in the sky, in order, are:

Sun
Moon
Venus
Jupiter
Mars (very rarely it gets a shade brighter than Jupiter)
Sirius
Canopus
Alpha Centauri

The last 3 in my list are the 3 brightest stars – only Sirius is visible from most populated parts of the Northern Hemisphere (all three visible from where I live)

Note that ISS can sometimes get as bright as Sirius, but as I said it moves across the sky in minutes.

Iridium satellites (60 of them) are usually invisible, but occasionally catch the sun on their reflectors and at those times, just for a couple seconds they can be brighter than Venus.

Note that the planets vary in brightness depending on where they are in their orbits compared to earth.

Go learn the basic sky. We live in the space age, for heavens sake

Answer 5

The space station can be as bright as Venus (the brightest natural object visible in the sky at night). The space station is very easy to see when it is above you, in the sky. Because it is in a (relatively) low orbit, it is not often above your horizon.

The pole star is not very bright. It is important because it always marks North, but it is not brighter than any of the stars in the Big Dipper. There are many stars brighter than the Pole Star.

The space station is far from being as bright as the Full Moon or the Sun (well, they are lights in the sky...).

Some Iridium satellites (a satellite phone system) can have 'flares' when their solar panels are aligned just right. If you really watch for them (with help from websites that give predictions) you can see at least one flare per evening. Some flares can be 10 times brighter than Venus. A flare can last up to 10 seconds.

Answer 6

What you all are looking at probably is the planet Venus. It's very bright and appears in the eastern sky right now. The International Space Station passes over a different part of the Earth's surface with each 90 minute orbit. To find out where it is at all times and to find out when your next viewing opportunity will be go to this web page.
.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/
.

Answer 7

In northern winter, the brightest star in the night sky is Sirius (magnitude -1.47).

Venus and Jupiter are both planets and are brighter than Sirius, but they aren't always visible:
- Jupiter is low in the southwest after sunset, and sets by 9:00 pm (max brightness -1.8)
- Venus rises in the east and hour and a half before the sun (maximum brightness around -4.5)

The ISS is visible with the naked eye - it moves quite quickly compared to the stars or planets, so its very obvious if you see it. It can be fairly bright, varying between magnitudes 0.1 and -2.2 and 0.1 (negative numbers are brighter than positive number).

This site lets you choose your country and your city to see a list of times and dates when you should be able to see the ISS:
http://esa.heavens-above.com/esa/iss_step1.asp

Answer 8

No. It is the Sun that is so bright. Since you live in Canada, and me in the U.S.A. to your south, you see the Sun more often than us. You are right. The Sun is a star that our planet and 8 others orbit. One more thing. Tell your boyfriends that this light is the Sun, our star.

Answer 9

The brightest light in the sky is the sun.

Answer 10

It's probably the planet Venus. It's definitely not the space station if it isn't moving.