Jupiter, I think. It's in the southeast (SSE rather) around midnight, not very high up, for me. South Michigan is at about the same latitude IIRC.

Try going to Heavens Above, pick your location (bookmark at that point, or create a user account if you wish), and check the Whole sky chart link when you see your strange object. Or click it now, and on the bottom of the page, change the time to when you saw it. Remember that the chart is supposed to be held over your head, so to speak, that's why east and west are reversed.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin
"Your right to hold an opinion is not being contested. Your expectation that it be taken seriously is." -- Jason Thompson
Meet the OOONG TOE.

Hello nycr!

The bright object that has been high in the evening sky for the last few
months is Jupiter. Right now it is straight south at approximately 11 PM
daylight savings time, depending on how far east or west you are from
the center of your time zone.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

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"I find astronomy very interesting, but I wouldn't if I thought we
were just going to sit here and look." -- "Van Rijn"

"The other planets? Well, they just happen to be there, but the
point of rockets is to explore them!" -- Kai Yeves

Obligatory.

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"Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."

Great picture. Where does my cat go at night,?

nycr; Jeff of Minneapolis has just demonstraighted my earler point. We are a global comunity. Jupiter for me is overhead and slightly north... at 9pm. Its important to tell us from where you view, and the time, and the direction... That 'heavens above' link will be a useful tool. They are good.

you can see the star from the time the sun sets to when it rises it is the brightest thing in the southern michigan sky right now and for months past

It is Sirius..

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RussT
________________________________
Everything is, as it should be, otherwise, it wouldn't be!

Probably Jupiter...it might have been Sirius when the OP was first created....back in January.

Russ,

Why did you say that? Have you read the other replies in the thread?
The object seen by nycr is clearly Jupiter. Sirius doesn't rise until well
after midnight.

schlaugh,

The thread was started in January 2007.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"I find astronomy very interesting, but I wouldn't if I thought we
were just going to sit here and look." -- "Van Rijn"

"The other planets? Well, they just happen to be there, but the
point of rockets is to explore them!" -- Kai Yeves

Oops...missed the year...well Sirius hasn't moved that much.

Wow...I am on the west coast (Sacramento, Calif) so for me the 'bright object' has just risen in the southeast, when the sun is setting in the west, for the last couple of months. The main street my balcony faces is due East/West, and so my balcony faces south. So I have watched this 'bright object' track across the sky all night/morning, as the Earth rotates eastward (I generally go to bed around 4am...yep, I'm a true night owl).

Now, sometime last year/2 years, the subject of "Sirius" being the brightest star came up, and I thought that I had figured out when and where I was seeing Sirius, just based on different descriptions that certain people I was trusting on BAUT were giving (Don't remember who or when). I also "Thought" that I semi-knew where and when I was seeing Jupiter, and thought that Jupiter was much smaller and not nearly as 'bright' as Venus is when able to be seen.

SO, If you are telling me that this "Bright Object" That the Moon will be right next to, tomorrow night (when both are just coming into view because of darkness setting in, remembering that I am on the west coast) and that the moon will be just to the east of the next night, IS Jupiter.......then I am truely surprised by that. As I said, I really thought that Jupiter was was dimmer than this because of it's distance and color, even though I know that Jupiter is far larger than the earth or Venus.

BUT, I saw the Magnitudes Venus -3.8 Jupiter -2.5 on the Heavens Above Link, that I finally signed on to and used for the first time... (I tried once before but didn't like it!)...and so once again, I say I am surprised...this must be Jupiter, even though I thought Jupiter was wayyyyy dimmer!
I will give another honest statement here, because I am going to make another point at the end of this ...I was even confused about the East-- West notations being wrong, because when I put my back to the north, as viewing from my balcony, it was wrong, and was going to bring this up in this post, UNTIL I clicked on F-Q&A in Heavens...and saw that you need to imagine the map above your head, not from the ground where your feet are, that I got IT!!!

And, Now there is a New thread in Q&A Venus or Sirius?...from the UK area.

Neverfly's links showing Sirius in relation to Orions Belt really helps, because now that rises for me in the east around 3 am, so if Sirius is just off Orions Belt, THEN it cannot be what I am seeing tracking across the sky each night.

IN Fact, after writing all of this, I am STILL having trouble believing that Jupiter is THIS BRIGHT.....LOL...........is this really Jupiter?

Now, here is my other point...

Knowing or not knowing this, has absolutely Nothing to do with ALL of the rest of "My Model" of how the Cosmos are working!!!

I completely understand why any scientist and even others would say,,, BUT if you don't even know these kind of basics, and can be fooled so easily about something like this...then how can you possibly think that anything else you are coming up with even has a slight chance of being correct...I really do understand how anyone could say and think this...Just like I didn't know that capital Letters were used for the first 26 Super Novas of each year, or that SNe was just the plural of Super Nova, or another way to say Supernovae.

There is Lots of stuff I do not know, and have readily admitted where and when I have figured out I was in error (But, I do know where we have to go to be "On the Right Track") and I haven't taken any formal physics classes, which I am glad now that I haven't, because I can see where people have become absolutely convinced of things that are patently not true.

It's weird, but anytime now, that I have to admit I didn't know something, since many have used it against me in the past, I feel I have to give one of these long explitives to protect myself from future attacks because I have shown apparent weakness...so...this isn't addressed just to you Jeff, this is more or less addressed to anyone reading this.

All though you and I both know, from our "Distance Then" VS "Distance Now" thread that there is 'something' wrong with 'proper time'/'proper distance' always being 0 for Emission/Absorption...

Enough for now!

__________________
RussT
________________________________
Everything is, as it should be, otherwise, it wouldn't be!

Well, yeah, that's sort of why I mentioned it in #31

__________________
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin
"Your right to hold an opinion is not being contested. Your expectation that it be taken seriously is." -- Jason Thompson
Meet the OOONG TOE.

RussT; I am on the other end of the planet so my view is always a little eschewed fro you Northern Hemisphere viewers.. and as I help run an observatory we are often there till the wee hours... so I have a good handle on what and when I should see whatever. Your southern sky is my overhead. I do not see Andromeda for more than a month but, I do see the central Milky Way I spent some time in China as a child and have never forgotten the different sky...view.
I think you are being a little hard on your self as its obvious you do understand the sky above you in relation to your east west and southern view.. you would not be the first to be a little gesumped by that hold above your head sky map. However I do take exception to your logic that because you / we can be confused we are. We are not. you might be and, admition of error is not weakness, its maturity. Yes there is much we do not know. Wanting to makes us stronger. . . But enjoyed your post....mark

Yeah, well if I would have just read your whole post, once I decided to click on Heavens Above, it would have saved me about 30 to 45 minutes of time and angst...

__________________
RussT
________________________________
Everything is, as it should be, otherwise, it wouldn't be!

i live in edmonton canada and in our southern skies we have a huge bright star, and i have had countless fights with my brother over what it is i cannot remember what he thought it was but im sure it is jupiter if i remember correctly
but im not exactly an astronomer
thanx

http://www.heavens-above.com will settle the matter.

Fred

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-- John Dryden, "The Vindication of The Duke of Guise" 1684

Almost due south, early evening? Yes that is almost certainly Jupiter. Even in 8x binoculars, you should be able to notice the moons of Jupiter close by it.

How are the rest of the skies in your neck of the woods?