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Bright star/planet tonight question

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  • 31-03-2015 10:27pm
    #1
    Special Circumstances
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,569 ✭✭✭


    Hi,
    tried a android app with a sky map but don't quite trust it, was wondering if someone here could enlighten me...

    Bright object in the sky, WNW of limerick city, 10 pm. Lowish. Seems very bright in comparison to everything else. Not ISS afaik, not moving.
    Can anyone tell me what it is? (I know very little about stars etc) Jut curiosity.


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    #2
    jfSDAS
    Registered Users Posts: 352 ✭✭jfSDAS


    Hiya,

    More than likely it is the planet Venus. It is very prominent in the western sky as twilight descends but has sunk much lower by the time of your sighting. I noticed Jupiter aways to the upper right of the Moon this evening as well. Jupiter is a bright fresh-cream coloured "star" and high in the southern sky at the moment.

    A good PDF with a chart of the monthly sky can be downloaded from http://www.skymaps.com while my free night sky calendar for 2015 is at https://www.dropbox.com/s/yqg5otrcyrzwc44/astro_calendar_2015_final.pdf?dl=1

    John


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    #3
    Special Circumstances
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,569 ✭✭✭Special Circumstances


    Thanks! I'll check out those links.


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    #4
    Special Circumstances
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,569 ✭✭✭Special Circumstances


    404 on the dropbox link for me. I've haven't used it much before - do I need an account to access that link?


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    #5
    jfSDAS
    Registered Users Posts: 352 ✭✭jfSDAS


    Sorry about that :o

    The link below should work now.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/yqg5otrcyrzwc44/astro_calendar_2015_final.pdf?dl=1


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    #6
    Special Circumstances
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,569 ✭✭✭Special Circumstances


    Yup that's working now - thanks.


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    #7
    Maximus Alexander
    Registered Users Posts: 13,080 ✭✭✭✭Maximus Alexander


    There's a pretty handy interactive sky map here that allows you to set your location, date and time and have a look around the sky. It should make it easy to identify anything.


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    #8
    Special Circumstances
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,569 ✭✭✭Special Circumstances


    Cheers that confirms jfSDAS suggestion of Venus. I knew the skymap on my phone wasn't working right.

    Even better - I now know where to look for the Pleiades tonight using Venus as a reference point. That's what kicked off my stargazing a few weeks ago - checking out where the Subaru logo came from!


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