What is the star I am seeing in the ssw sky?

Question

What is the star (?) I am seeing in the ssw sky around 8 at night? It's very bright and the only one I see this early.

Answer 1

assuming you live in the northern hemisphere, teh best candidate is arcturus. try looking at it in binoculars and see if it has an orange colour.

Answer 2

does it shimmer? if it doesn't its probably venus (if its nearer the horizon and very white) or jupiter (if its almost directly overhead and slightly reddish) If it does shimmer, and if its white, i think it should be sirius the dog star.  

Answer 3

Do you mean SSE?  that is where Jupiter currently is in our sky and is the brightest object other than the moon

Answer 4

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.