Am I Seeing The Planet Jupiter?

[james_fish]

It's about 25 past 12 at night here in the UK. I'm just about to go to bed, so i've just opened the back door to let the dog out one last time. It's a reasonably clear night where I am, about 3/8 okta's of cloud cover. I had a look up to the sky and saw a fair few stars, but one which stood out more than the others, because it appeared bigger and brighter. It was South-East from me. Now I have an app on my iPhone called 'Skyview' some of you may be familiar with it, it's pretty cool actually. You point the camera and it shows on your screen what appears e.g. Moon, ISS, Sun, Stars, Planets. I pointed at this star and the thing that popped up was Jupiter, now I know Jupiter is visible from the naked eye along with a few other planets, but is this what I am seeing tonight or just a regular star?

I'm not really in the know with all this space stuff, but it does fascinate me.

Thanks, James

 

[Episkey]

Yep, that's probably Jupiter. There is even a brighter object below it at the moment, which is Venus. They will soon switch positions though.

 

[simonas]

Yep, that's probably Jupiter. There is even a brighter object below it at the moment, which is Venus. They will soon switch positions though.

lol it wont be now surely seeing as youve replied to a thread 6 months old

 

[micko]

Maybe its the second time its done this Simon.

 

[Xraymark]

Your meant to be able to see 5 planets this month. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Don't ask me to point them out..

 

[matthewlee1959]

Last fall was my WOW moment in astronomy.  Jupiter goes from the night sky to the morning in the U.S. over the fall and winter.  I headed out with my 10x50 binoculars mounted on a camera tripod and trained it on Jupiter.  It was one of those rare mornings with a completely still and clear atmosphere and sure enough there was Jupiter and faintly visible were the cloud bands.  In addition were all four of the Galilean moons.  At that moment I was hooked on the hobby.
 
By the way, Sunday evening was an incredible sight as Venus was within less than 10 degrees of the crescent Moon.  What is sad to me is how few people ever look to the skies and are filled with the wonder of creation.  Every time I look up on a dark clear night, I think of the Psalmist, When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?  Psalms 8:3-4 (KJV)