Bright star type thing in the night sky; what is it?

Question

i'm on holiday in the south of france and every night i notice that there is a bright star type thing, (its very rural here so i'm looking at the sky alot) i'm reckoning its a planet actually. it starts of lowish in the south easterly sky and then slowly travels across the sky i'd guess its currently directly south at 2230, and then later it will go further west. can any one tell me what it is?

Answer 1

http://www.stellarium.org/

This is great freeware that you can download.  Just tell it where you are and it will tell you what you see.  

I believe that you are talking about Jupiter in the southern sky right now.  It is beautiful.  

Answer 2

That is the planet Jupiter. Use the source to maks a sky map showing that.

Answer 3

Jupiter.

It's pretty exciting to see such a remote planet so brightly in the night sky.

Answer 4

JUPITER

Answer 5

It's Jupiter.

Answer 6

space station or satelleite maybe

Answer 7

Jupiter. It could never be Venus due south at any time.

Answer 8

Probably Venus. If the light from it is steady, it's a planet, but if the light flickers, it's a star.

Answer 9

Jupiter.

Answer 10

it could be Jupiter, it's pretty close to Earth right now. Or it could be just a satellite, they can glow quite strongly when they reflect sunlight.