Bright star in the sky

[Jabba]

Hi,

Im new and need some help! I need to know what that huge star is in our sky lately?

It's the biggest one there, pretty much directly up, maybe slightly north west.

I read in sky and telescope mag about that fomalhaut star being very visible in the southern hemisphere atm, could it be that? (taking a stab of a guess :P)

Cheers,
Keenan.

[jjjnettie]

Congratulations! That's no star Keenan, that's Jupiter!!
Have you a pair of binoculars?
Take a look and you should be able to see 4 moons too.

[Clarry]

I'm guessing you're talking about Jupiter. It's the brightest light in our night sky at the moment. Why not download a copy of Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org/)& then you can identify just about everything you see up there.

[Jabba]

haha thats awesome :D e ven with the naked eye!
Jupiter is huge...

So ive noticed it doesnt flicker like a star, is that the way to compare a star to a planet?

[TrevorW]

Not really the flickering is atmospheric disturbance and a really good night stars don't flicker

also you'll notice flickering more when the stars are lower in the sky than when directly overhead

[asimov]

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081002023819AAMKE0Q

:thumbsup:

[Jabba]

That was very helpful, thanks!