Venus

[DGU]

Hi

 on my home from work around 16:15 I can see one star in the sky facing south, it is Venus?

[emadmoussa]

Most likely...

[Moonshane]

I agree, almost certainly Venus if it's relatively low down and very bright (like Jupiter bright).

[DGU]

Yeah its very bright and its mad just seeing it there on its own! even when the sky is still just about blue, that's why I want to buy a telescope now!

[stevetynant]

To my eternal shame - When I first started in this hobby I was on top of the Epynt ranges above Brecon a few years ago and saw Venus and Jupiter together - I was convinced it was the floodlights of two helicopters as the wind blew the clouds by and looked for all the world like the "choppers" were getting closer - I stayed in my car a full 15 minutes before I realised what I was seeing - I can fully understand why people cry UFO in such circumstances - in a dark sky - bright is an understatement for such objects lol

[bambuko]

You can easily confirm it by looking at it through a scope - it will show it's phase (a bit like Moon) - cannot be confused with a star.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Even with 10x50 bins the phase can be seen at times

[Crebles]

I was delighted a few teatimes ago when I had a quick look at Venus through my grab n go ST80 (at about 40x) and saw it was a crescent! It soon disappeared behind next doors roof, but it was a lovely first for me!

[ronl]

Without doubt it's Venus, observed her through the scope

last week, such a beautiful sight, with a perfect crescent, but

since then the cloud has been terrible.   

[mjpfc]

Yes I was astounded to see it so far towards south a few days ago, It was sitting just to the left of SSE,

but that's the Geometry of the sky at this time of year.

Gorgeous crescent too, and you dont need too much Magification to tease a good view of it. Its often better

when the sky still has blue in it as this takes the glare away.

Regards,  Mick

[Champagnerocker]

I've always been amazed at how what appears to be such a phenomenally bright point is actually more like a letter "C" when viewed through a scope.