Expert: Jayendra Upadhye - 5/20/2007

Question
I live in st. louis  and I was looking west friday night and saw a very bright planet( I think ) and wanted to know what it was?

Answer
Hi beth,
Currently the real "star" of the western sky till very late in the evenings is Venus!

It has come quite up over the horizon.
If you memorise its approx location at say 7 in the evening, work backwards and try locating it progressively earlier, till you will be able to locate it in the sky even when the sun is over the horizon!

This way i have seen Venus even as early as one hour before sunset when the sky is actually still blue!!

That would be something your friends would never have done i assure you!!

Like wise in the eastern skies late midnight, tou see the equivalent of venus in brightness, Jupiter!

with good binocs, you can see its 4 galilean satellites too, all falling along an imaginary east west line passing thru jupiter.

That is also something your classmates wouldnt have seen!!

hope that suffices,
Jayen