There are two beautiful planets in the night sky at the moment, one very bright indeed - I’m guessing Venus - and the other sort of yellow-white.
Could the resident astonomers at 'mosa tell me what they are? Thanks ! My Taiwanese friends have a hard time believing that they are not simply bright stars.
Venus is always bright, visible in the west after sunset, disapears later as the sun goes even further down.
Mars is close at the moment too. Not sure where it’s visible at the mo.
Not surprising they don’t know the difference between a planet and a star. Mars is called “Fire Star” in Chinese for one.
[quote=“Big Fluffy Matthew”]Venus is always bright, visible in the east after sunset, disapears later as the sun goes even further down.
Mars is close at the moment too. Not sure where it’s visible at the mo.[/quote]
Reminds me of a Grateful Dead tune:
[quote=“Grateful Dead in Terrapin Station”]
Counting stars by candlelight
all are dim but one is bright:
the spiral light of Venus
rising first and shining best,
From the northwest corner
of a brand-new crescent moon
crickets and cicadas sing
a rare and different tune
Terrapin Station
in the shadow of the moon
Terrapin Station
and I know we’ll be there soon
[/quote]
[quote=“Tigerman”][quote=“Big Fluffy Matthew”]Venus is always bright, visible in the east after sunset, disapears later as the sun goes even further down.
Mars is close at the moment too. Not sure where it’s visible at the mo.[/quote]
Reminds me of a Grateful Dead tune: [/quote]
Well, yeah, EVERYTHING reminds you of a Grateful Dead tune. 
I saw on the news just now that Jupiter (‘Gold star’ in Chinese) is going to be visible to the naked eye on Dec 9. I wonder if it’s actually already visible, and that it will be at its brightest on Dec 9?
[quote=“Big Fluffy Matthew”]Venus is always bright, visible in the west after sunset, disapears later as the sun goes even further down.
Mars is close at the moment too. Not sure where it’s visible at the mo.[/quote]
Yup, this would be the 2 brightest planets at the moment. At around 6.30pm Venus will be very low on the horizon in the SW direction. Mars (yellowish) will be in the E direction at about 45 degrees elevation.
It is visible at the moment just (though maybe not with the naked eye) ! at about 5.40am if you look to the rising sun in the ESE you may see a cresent moon. Jupiter can be seen at about the 8 o’clock position from the moon. By Dec 9th Jupiter will be visible as early as 3.55am, so naturally the night sky will still be dark.
Or it is the planet Plopbongle which is going to smash in the Earth next week ? One of them will soon start getting large quickly, then we’ll know which one it is.
Venus is obvious from time to time every year, very bright white looking star.
Mars is very close to earth at the moment, it’s very easy to spot, being so RED.
Venus is obvious from time to time every year, very bright white looking star.
Mars is very close to earth at the moment, it’s very easy to spot, being so RED.
Not always that red though. To a naked-eye observer, Mars usually shows a distinct yellow, orange or reddish colour.
I think the yelllow planet I can see very clearly at the moment, which is at about a 45 degree elevation, is indeed Mars. I don’t think any other planet except Venus could be that distinct.
[quote=“moomoojuice”]Not always that red though. To a naked-eye observer, Mars usually shows a distinct yellow, orange or reddish colour.
I think the yelllow planet I can see very clearly at the moment, which is at about a 45 degree elevation, is indeed Mars. I don’t think any other planet except Venus could be that distinct.[/quote]
Check this page out
Mars rose at 15:19 today and will set at 04:20, so it’s unlikely to be that high in the sky yet … but Mars and Venus are both very obvious at the moment - in the evening Mars is in the East and Venus in the West.
Incidentally, Jupiter is almost as bright as Mars - but as it’s in the sky during the daytime at the moment you can’t see it.
When Igorveni and I climbed Snow Mountain the planets were so bright at night you could read by them. Okay, no, but mars was so bright I thought it was Venus at first. I had never seen a planet so bright.
Yes, Mars in particular is very bright at the moment. My favourite viewing is when the planet has a red hue and lives up to it’s name as the Red Planet. (Then again, in Taiwan it could just be the pollution… 
)