Which planet did I see?

Question

I was in Virginia USA last week and from my north facing balcony I watched a planet ascend in a north easterly direction from around 11pm through a two hour period. The planet was below the height of Usra Major, which was about 30 to 40 degrees to the west of the position of the planet.

Does anyone know which planet this was?

Answer 1

If it was the brightest thing rising in night sky except the moon it had to be Jupiter this time of year.

If there's something brighter (Jupiter) then it might be Saturn. But Jupiter has been really gorgeous lately and would have caught your attention.

But I think your direction sense might be a little off, is Virginia a new place for you? It's easy to be a little disoriented in that case.

http://starryskies.com/Artshtml/dln/7-00...

Answer 2

You will never see planets in the north from the northern hemisphere.  It had to be something else.

Answer 3

I was looking down the list of previous answers, thinking no, it wasn't Venus (which sets just after the Sun), Jupiter is in the south, Vega is overhead. Nobody had come up with my thought that the object was the star Capella, until I saw Peter T's answer.

I reckon his suggestion is correct. Capella would be slowly moving to the right and upwards as the night progresses.

Answer 4

It wasn't Jupiter.  I can see it every night right now and it's more in a Southeast direction.  Check out this website for weekly astronomy info.  This guy used to be on PBS once a week.  It's really educational and dumbed down for us who don't understand astronomy very well.   (me)

Answer 5

ima say Venus

Answer 6

I've dialled up the sky as observed from lat 37 deg N and long 76 deg W at 11 pm on August 1, 2008 using Cartes du Ciel.

Looking to the north one sees Polaris sitting stationary in the sky some 37 degrees above the horizon.  Ursa Major is to the north-west, down and to the left from Polaris, some 15 to 20 degrees above the horizon.  To the north-east, approximately 50 degrees around to the right (east) from Ursa Major, the bright star Capella (actually a double star) in the constellation Auriga is rising.  It moves up and to the right (east), reaching about 10 to 15 degrees above the horizon by 1 am.

I suggest therefore that the "planet" you observed is the star Capella.

As to why the other stars didn't move, I can't say.  The stars should have maintained their spacing to each other but the stars of Ursa Major should have drawn noticeably closer to the horizon.  Similarly, Capella's fainter associate, Beta Aurigae, should have followed in its wake about an hour later.  Polaris would have barely moved of course and the other stars in Ursa Minor would have described smaller arcs due to their closeness to the North Celestial Pole.

Answer 7

That would not have been a planet in that position.

From what you describe, it was probably the bright star Vega.  The one planet visible at that time would be Jupiter, but it would be in the very southern part of the sky...in the constellation Sagittarius.

I am pretty sure you were looking at the star Vega as it would be very bright in the northern region of the sky.

Answer 8

Not directly.  I can help you guess though.  It was not Venus or Mercury because they can never be seen at midnight.  If it didn't have an orange tinge then it probably wasn't Mars.  That only leave Jupiter and Saturn as the most visiable planets and your best bet.