Very bright star last night?

Question

Does anybody know what the extremely bright star/planet/satellite was in the south eastern UK sky last night at around 1am-3am? I was soooo amazingly bright but I can't seem to find out what it was.

Answer 1

Are you sure it was the south-east?

Jupiter should have been the brightest object in the sky at that time but would have been somewhat lower down and to the south-west by 2 or 3 am.

The star Altair would have been higher up in the sky but considerably fainter.

Venus is pretty much in line with the Sun at the moment so there's no way what you saw could be Venus.

Answer 2

take note of geofg g answer, i asked the same sort of question and he came back with a good answer. he seems to be a chap who knows what hes on about, i see jupiter every night coming home from work as im a night shift lorry driver travelling down the m5 between the hours of 1am to 3am

Answer 3

Very likely what you saw was the planet Jupiter. It is currently the brightest object in the sky other than the Sun and Moon. I think you may be mistaken in the altitude of the object, as Jupiter doesn't get very high in the sky from the UK, no more than 16° above the horizon from the latitude of London. Take a look again tonight and check its altitude relative to the horizon (0°) and the zenith overhead (90°).

I'm getting really tired of people answering with wild guesses like "Venus" and "Polaris." Venus is currently too close to the Sun to be easily observed, and would only be visible in the early evening, right after sunset. Polaris is NOT a bright object, and is in the NORTH, not the Southeast...that is just so dumb! A couple of people answered that it was a supernova. There hasn't been a bright supernova in the sky for over 400 years! So please PLEASE, if you aren't sure of an answer, DON'T GUESS!!!! All you will do is confuse the person asking the question.

Answer 4

It is probably Venus.

That would have been visible at the time & place you specified, although it would have been to the South East and not as high in the sky as you mention, but I still think it's the most likely candidate.

Answer 5

Think a saw it, was in the same place you said, but this was about 12-half 12ish! Could it not be the space station, heard some people say you can see that at night sometimes!

Answer 6

It was most likely the planet Venus, not a star at all. Was it kind of cuddling close to the moon? If so, probably the planet of love!

Answer 7

Well when I go to Tunisia for holiday's, there are no street lights about when I'm at sea and I can see four very bright stars and about millions of little stars.

It sounds like it could have been the north star.

Answer 8

there is this really cool program you can download for free, "stellarium". Google it. It's an interactive  3D map of the night sky where you can set the place/time (it can mirror real time, which is pretty cool) and search for celestial objects.  You could wind the time back to yesterday/whenever you saw the star and should be able to identify what it is. Polaris, Jupiter and venus are the brightest celestial objects generally, but it could've been a supernova as well (however, I think there are only a handful of these in a century and they appear over a period of weeks, not hours, so it's not likely that it was a supernova).

Answer 9

I'm not sure and I really doubt it but If it was exceedingly bright it may be a supernova.

These are usually uncharted until they seem very bright

Answer 10

It could have been a supernova but that is very rare. However, how long did it last? If it was a few seconds to a few minutes it could have been an iridium flare, that is whent soalr panels on satellites reflect the sun's light.

Answer 11

What you describe sounds very much like the planet Jupiter, although from the U.K. it will never be more than 20 degrees above the horizon. It rises in the southeast and would be in the south by about 1.30 a.m. It is currently the brightest object in the night sky - one reason being that it is only about a week away from its closest approach to us this year.

Answer 12

Not a star, but a planet.

Jupiter is currently located in the south-eastern sky and is ideal for viewing around 1-3am.

Jupiter is massive; it's hit by many photons (light) from the sun and is able to reflect them well. Jupiter's cloud bands allow for this reflection to be even more spectacular.

Get some binoculars and check it out, you'll not only be able to see Jupiter, but the 4 Galiean moons as well; Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.