Bright star

[goldsim1963]

Hi Guys,

This morning at 0545Hrs when I was just starting my Petzl run I noticed a very bright object in the sky. I thought it was a plane at first but it was not really moving. It was in the South Eastern direction... any ideas... was it a satelite or planet?? Thought there might be a budding astronomer in our midst.
Cheers
Simon

[(notsomuchofa)Fellrunner]

I was going to say the International Space Station, but that's not coming around til Sunday;

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata...ity=Manchester


or maybe it was, the website above only looks into the future .

[Stolly]

Venus or Saturn maybe - see this interactive chart

[Brotherton Lad]

It's Venus. The other obvious one is Jupiter in the SSE in the early evening.

Edit: Saturn is also around in the dawn, appearing as a reasonably bright planet, but Venus is much, much brighter (the morning star) and would fit your description as a plane with landing lights on.

[monkeynut]

Jupiter is still close at the moment

[MachGirl]

Im pretty certain it's Venus but not certain .....noticed it the last few mornings !

[Alf]

There were 3 blokes on camels who stopped me on the way to work this morning asking for directions. They were very interested in the star for some reason as well

[IanDarkpeak]

It's Venus. The other obvious one is Jupiter in the SSE in the early evening.

Edit: Saturn is also around in the dawn, appearing as a reasonably bright planet, but Venus is much, much brighter (the morning star) and would fit your description as a plane with landing lights on.

I saw it this morning and boy was it bright. I'd say it was venus

[Stolly]

I see it every morning now . If you'd all just refer to my start chart that I linked to previously you'd know that its venus.

[Brotherton Lad]

It is Venus, which of course makes it a bright planet. You should be able to see the crescent shape with the naked eye. Venus is the same size as the earth.

Jupiter's worth a look at through binos (say between 6 and 8pm), especially in this cold air, you'll be able to see the 4 largest or Galilean, moons, which are 2000 to 3000 miles across

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jupiter-moons.jpg
http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/stu/jupiter_moons.html