10 ms·
My rule of thumb is, when someone asks "what's that star?" it's Venus. If it's later in the night, it's Jupiter.
by dmurray 5y ago
My rule of thumb is, when someone asks "what's that star?" it's Venus. If it's later in the night, it's Jupiter.
- Razengan 5y agoIf we’re indoors, it’s a paid actor.
- dredmorbius 5y agoThat's less accurate advice than you might think. There are more volunteer actors than professional. Odds are high that they're actually unpaid.
- sokoloff 5y agoI’d think odds are the ones I’m seeing on TV or in a movie are paid. (Most of the actors are unpaid. Most of the sightings of actors are probably of paid actors.)
- dredmorbius 5y agoTouche!
- SamBam 5y agoOr Mars, but what's nice is that you generally only have to look up what that "other planet" is once every few months or so, and you'll know it for a good long while. Right now it's Jupiter. Venus is actually surprisingly far from the sun right now, although still clearly the evening star.
- nanidin 5y agoI whip out my phone, pull up Sky Guide, then point it at the star in question. Around here depending on the time of the year it's typically Jupiter, Mars, Venus, or Sirius.
- recursive 5y agoWhy would it be related to the time of night?
- Uehreka 5y agoVenus’s orbit is between us and the Sun, so if it’s going to be visible at all, it won’t be at a time when your part of the Earth is facing totally away from the Sun. Venus would be visible a lot during the day if the Sun were less bright.
- mixmastamyk 5y agoOnly visible around sunset and sunrise, due to proximity to the sun. If you see a really bright "star" near the sunset for example, it's almost certainly Venus.