A bright star??

Question

Yesterday was June 30, 2008, at 11:48 PM and i saw a bright star in the sky. was it a planet? if so what planet? and how do they become so bright?

Answer 1

At that time of night, the brightest object in the sky is the planet Jupiter. From northern latitudes, it would be roughly in the south east at that time. The reason it's bright is that it's the largest of the planets, its clouds are relatively good reflectors of light and it's currently about as close to us as it will get this year. Have a look at it through binoculars and you might see some of its 4 large satellites, which appear as little starlike objects strung out in a line either side of it.

Answer 2

that was a star because stars get all flashy so that means that star will blow up.and when it does thats what creates a shooting star.so that galaxy is gone but it wont happen to us for 10 billion years cuz the scientists did some work on the sun.

Answer 3

jupiter. try looking at it with a telesscope or powerful binoculars.

Answer 4

You probably found jupiter.

It's located in the south east. So, If you live in West Chester, that would mean it's located somewhat towards philly.

I usually find that most people have to give it a "double take" when looking at it because it's so bright.

The reason is, it's so big! Jupiter's size and cloud cover help reflect many photons (light) from the sun making it easily visible; it's about 4 AU (Astronomical Units) from us.

FYI: 1 AU is the Earth's distance from the sun.

Answer 5

Yes! Even with my 10 x 50's I can Jupiter's Galilean moons:) If you try just look for things that look like stars around the equator. It's a thrill, you might get "hooked" :)

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...