Identify stars

Factual Questions
1

I’m hoping somebody can identify some celestial bodies for me despite my terrible attempt at describing them.

A few nights ago I noticed two bright “stars” (or other bodies) approximately north. One maybe five or ten degrees (guessing here) above the horizon, and another above it, the distance between them slightly more than between the bottom star and the horizon. Originally the top star was also a little farther to the right (like a two on dice) but since then they’ve become closer to directly vertical. I can’t seem to find any planets that are in that area. Are there any objects in that area as bright as a constellation star and moving that slowly?

Alternately can you recommend a resource that shows the current night sky that includes non stellar objects? I’m having trouble finding one that actually looks like the sky as it appears to the naked eye rather than making constellation stars exaggerated or applying some kind of logarithmic scale to the brightness.

2

I’m guessing you saw Venus and Jupiter, which are pretty close in the sky at the moment. I recommend the free program Stellariumif you want to identify stars, constellations and planets.

3

My guess would also be Venus and Jupiter.

4

If you have a iPhone or an Android device, you can get an app that will let you just point the phone at the sky and it will tell you what you’re seeing.

5

Mr. Neville has this for his iPod.

6

Whenever anyone asks “What was this bright star-like object I saw”, the answer is almost always Venus, Jupiter, or both, and they’ve been fairly close together in the sky lately. Your sense of direction is off, though, since they’re a bit south of west.

7

Too cool. Thanks.