Is this a planet or a star?

Question

Every now and then, in the southeast sector of the sky, there is a very bright star. It isn't always there, though. At first I thought it may be Jupiter. I'm not sure though. It looks like a star but way brighter. Also, it moves, sort of like the moon does. As in, it crosses the sky as the night progresses. Is this Jupiter? Possibly Venus.

Answer 1

According to Jack Horkheimer of the Miami Planetarium, it is indeed Jupiter. It will be visible for the rest of July, but will get dimmer and dimmer as Earth and Jupiter get farther apart in their respective orbits, relatively speaking.

Keep looking up.

Answer 2

Originally, all the lights in the sky were called asterae [stars] ; the ones that moved were called asterae planetai [wandering stars].   So historically it would be accurate to call it a star.  however with the invention of the telescope these wandering lights could be seen to be spheres much like the earth so the name was shortened to planet or planets to denote their difference from the other lights in the sky.  

All moving lights have their origin in the solar system so what you are seeing is not a star in the current sense of the word since all of the stars we see except for the sun, to the naked eye appear to be fixed.

Answer 3

jupiter all the way!

here's what i printed out ..fun stuff to help you observe the awesome planet and 4 moons you can see with it.

got bonoculars? you can see it ( and everything else in the night sky with them ! )

http://www.skynewsmagazine.com/pages/jup...

and here is really cool ones .. too may to chose so i put the link for all . i've been out watching jupiter everynight !

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=jup...

Answer 4

Jupiter or Saturn. Mars is tiny and pink or red. Venus you can only see at sunrise or very rarely, sunset because it's between us and the sun (so it is never lit up in the dark night sky) Uranus and Neptune are very far away so they are tiny and dim.

Answer 5

if it's visible by naked eye, i'd say venus, saturn and jupiter are farther away and darker and don't move as fast.

Answer 6

That would be either Jupiter or Saturn.

Answer 7

Venus, you can definitely tell isn't a star. It is too big to be a star. If it only shows up every once on a while then it is a planet. It also sounds like a planet with its habit of moving around that much.

Answer 8

Most likely Jupiter.  Venus stays close to the Sun; you won't see it more than an hour or so after sunset or before sunrise.

Answer 9

It is Jupiter.  It is now in the vicinity of Scorpius.