Submitted by fungiyenta t3_yoreit in vermont
Last night at 3:30 am I woke up and saw a bright star through the skylight, so bright I went out and took a look. It was above Orion to the north. Any idea if this was Mars? It looked reddish.
Comments
sjmoodyiii t1_ivfk7rf wrote
I like "stellarium" you point your phone towards the sky and it provides a map with plants, stars, constellations, etc. that you are seeing in real time.
It has a night mode so all text is red and doesn't dilate your eyes
Calligraphee t1_ivfzda2 wrote
I'm a fan of Star Walk! Lots of cool astronomy options.
[deleted] t1_ivfi20i wrote
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SheaF91 t1_ivg5lht wrote
You can roll back to 3:30 AM on the Time and Date website, too. It looks like OP was correct to guess Mars at that location.
fungiyenta OP t1_ivhx663 wrote
Wow, this is very cool
JimTheJerseyGuy t1_ivfqunv wrote
That'd be Mars!
TillPsychological351 t1_ivg6r0m wrote
Jupiter and Mars are not too hard to tell apart. Minus the moon and Venus, which is only visible near the horizon in the evening or near dawn, Jupiter is by far the brightest object in the sky. If you're looking up at a prominent star-light object that is clearly visible even in moonlight that saturates out most other stars, it likely is Jupiter.
Mars isn't quite so prominent, although still pretty easy to find if its out and you know where the ecliptic lies. Jupiter has a faintly yellow color to the naked eye, whereas Mars is noticably orange.
Because the moon is waxing currently, you likely saw one of these two planets.
AdventureSheepies t1_ivfp4q9 wrote
Mars is pretty bright at this time of year. Check this out.
DamonKatze t1_ivg0htm wrote
Planet Claire
Ergotnometry t1_ivfohc6 wrote
If you're curious again, this is the app I use to double check. (It's Google Sky Map)
TDGroupie t1_ivfzwt3 wrote
SkyGuide is the best
TitsMcGooo t1_ivi7w78 wrote
It’s mos def Jupiter. But Saturn is making quite a show of himself as well
raincntry t1_ivh68jr wrote
It was most likely Jupiter based on your description. Jupiter and Saturn are visible to the naked eye at night and, next to the moon, the brightest objects in the night sky.
VT_Guy55 t1_ivfj4r6 wrote
Try the “Night Sky” app, you can use your location in real time to map what you see in the sky to labels on your phone…it’s pretty cool!