Which star or planet is that?

Question

Just curious. I know Jupiter is out, but i want to know which is this one.

Its the star that is towards the west that is slightly brighter than the other stars and has a brownish tinge. It's over the pacific ocean about 40 degrees above the horizon and its kind of by itself.

Answer 1

Sounds right. Jupiter is the brightest object in the sky at this time. As far as the Pacific Ocean I couldn't say without knowing your latitude.

Answer 2

Well, Jupiter is currently in the constellation Sagittarius, if you know how to find that. It's the brightest thing in the sky right now besides the Moon and Sun of course, and so it's pretty unmistakable.

It doesn't venture into the western sky until around midnight right now, so if you're staying up late and seeing it, then it could be Jupiter, especially if you're a little off as to what direction is due west.

As for stars, you might be seeing Aldebaran, which is a bit west of Sagittarius - it's the brightest star in Scorpius, and gets into the western sky a little sooner, and is brighter than the stars around it, and is reddish/orange-ish in color.

Your best bet is to recreate your sky in a planetarium program, and to identify the object. If you can't be certain by that, then learn the constellations of that part of the sky from the planetarium software (it draws lines to show you where the constellations are) and then go back outside and find your mystery object among them, knowing what's where.

Spica is another bright star in that region, but it's bluish, and probably not your star. Arcturus is low in the west after sunset, and reddish, and "slightly" brighter than the rest around it - that could be your star.

My money's on Jupiter and your compass being a bit off. ;)

p.s. I just checked skyview (see link below) and at 11:30pm, Jupiter is 30 degrees up, and in a SSW direction... sounds like your target to me...

Answer 3

You mentioned the pacific ocean, but we really need your latitude.  If it's the brightest object in the sky right now, it is Jupiter.  If not, I need more details!

<edit>The third answerer said "Aldeberan" but clearly meant "Antares" when referring to the reddish star in Scorpio.  An understandable error, they both start with "A" and are both very unmistakably red.