The thing near the moon tonight

[Rhiannon]

There's a star thing to the south east of the moon as I'm looking at it tonight. I'm trying to google what it is and it could be Jupiter possibly or Spica. Or something else.

Anyone know?

[Sebastian Toe]

Jupiter.

http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/astro/esm/dome22

[Rhiannon]

Ooh, thank you. That's exciting. Never knowingly seen it before. 

[Ricky Spanish]

My favourite "Planetarium" software: http://www.stellarium.org/en_GB/

[Rhiannon]

Thanks for that. 

[Anchorman]

Maybe the lander that didn't land on the moon in '69, if a certain poster is correct? (I'll get me coat......)

[Gordon]

If you got an IPad there is an app thingy (my grandson has it installed on his IPad) called 'SkyviewFree', so I presume there is a more advanced version you can pay for.

Once installed you point it at where you want to look and it shows the details of what you are seeing, plus there are various other buttons you can press that presumably do other stuff. Point it at your feet and you'll see what stars are visible on the other side of the planet (or you can just look at your feet).

[Rhiannon]

We saw this too but I didn't know it was rare as it's not uncommon where I live.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39563364

[Ricky Spanish]

Google have something similar for android...  (in the spirit of fairness); https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.stardroid&hl=en_GB

[Spud]

There's a star thing to the south east of the moon as I'm looking at it tonight. I'm trying to google what it is and it could be Jupiter possibly or Spica. Or something else.

Anyone know?

Something I've been doing over this year is observing Jupiter's movement relative to a star which at the moment is almost directly below it. At the moment Jupiter is moving in the direction of the sunrise, if that makes sense. But for a while it appeared to be moving in the opposite direction; this was due to the relative movement of the earth and Jupiter in their orbits around the sun. It's called retrograde movement, which is similar to when two cars are travelling in different lanes on the motorway. When the road bends, the outer car appears to be moving backwards from the viewpoint of the inner car. If the outer car moves slightly faster but the bend in the road is sharp, the outer car would appear to move forwards when the road is straight but then backwards when they come to the bend.