what was the star next to the Moon tonight

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vandivx

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tonight when I was leaving the place where I work in Toronto Canada around 8.30pm, I saw in the West direction moon about one third of the way above horizon and above it a bit to the left was very bright star, brigther than any other stars, actually I think it might have been a planet because of how bright it was, which one though<br /><br />the star was alone in that region where the moon was and when I extended my hand fully forward, the distance between the star and the moon was about as I could cover by my palm width...<br /><br />anybody care to fire up his star finding program and tell me? at first I thought it was Polar star but then again I don't know if that one is found where I have seen this one, that one is supposed to be where the handle of the Big Dipper points, it was early dark and I didn't see the Big Dipper around at all...<br /><br />vanDivX <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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docm

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It was probably Venus. <br /><br />They were <b>very</b> close tonight. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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CalliArcale

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<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>at first I thought it was Polar star but then again I don't know if that one is found where I have seen this one, that one is supposed to be where the handle of the Big Dipper points, it was early dark and I didn't see the Big Dipper around at all...<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Since your star has been identified as Venus, I'll respond to this. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Polaris, the "Pole Star", is the tip of the "handle" of the Little Dipper. The two stars at the end of the Big Dipper's "bowl" point at it (not the handle). It's not a very impressive star, though, and it is usually difficult to spot in city skies, or anytime that there's an appreciable amount of twilight left. If Polaris weren't the Pole Star, it probably wouldn't get much mention ever, because apart from being so close to the north celestial pole, it's really not much to look at with the naked eye.<br /><br />A more interesting star in the northern part of the sky is the middle star of the Big Dipper's "handle". It's an optical double: the two star are Alcor and Mizar. If you have good eyes (or good eyeglasses/contacts), you should be able see both of them. I keep forgetting which is the brighter one, though. The two stars are actually relatively close to one another, but most astronomers do not believe they are gravitationally bound -- as I understand it, they're far enough apart that they're on the hairy edge of that being even conceivably possible. Look for them the next time you see the Big Dipper, though. It's a fun thing to spot. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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vandivx

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now that you say that about Polaris - how to find it, I recall that now too<br /><br />I don't have good eyes, my eyglasses are sort of old by now, probably need new prescription, I sometimes employed binoculars but without tripod you can't look at stars and barely at the Moon, I mean you can't trully enjoy it as one can't eliminate the shake (and no I am not that old yet to have my hands shake on that account)<br /><br />I don't look at stars generally, its literaly pain in the neck and typically when the view is reasonably clear it is damn cold, everything conspires in nature against me becoming astronomer <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />so I have seen Venus, it was much too bright for it be a star, almost wondered if it might be an airplane coming in, usually planets in these northern lattitudes don't rise that high in sky, they only show briefly over the horizon early in evening, that's what I remember dimly<br /><br />[grumpy] no ancient astronomy civilization could have developped here that's for sure, I often even wonder why people ever settled here, like if there wasn't enough place someplace more south [/grumpy]<br /><br />vanDivX <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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