Planet help

[socalrailfan]

The last few days I was in the Eastern Sierras and around 530am I shot the sky looking southeast and there was a planet in the sky. Which planet was this? Probably 5 inches, from my view, above the horizon. Saturn?

[SteveInNZ]

Both Saturn and Venus are in that general direction at the moment. Venus is the really bright one. The star Spica is just above that and Saturn is the same brightness as Spica, off to the left.
Show us yer pic.

[socalrailfan]

OK I will as soon as I can. It was big, didn't seem like Venus. But it most likely is since I'm used to seeing it in the west near sunset.

[socalrailfan]

Here it is. I also need some good star atacker program. I was using DeepSkyStacker, is there something better? This is a single image.

[SteveInNZ]

Using your EXIF data, it's definitely Venus with a few of the brighter stars in Virgo. Spica would be just out of frame, above and to the right of Venus.
Very nice image.

[digidiva]

I see Venus here too on clear clouless mornings about 5.30am (too early to be getting up, but I have to), and it does seem to look particularly big and bright now.

BTW, I don't shoot astronomy, but I love coming here to look at you guys' work

[socalrailfan]

Thanks. What was weird too was that the planet seemed to be pulsating. Nothing else in the sky was, just it, weird.

[Sorarse]

For future reference, you could do a lot worse than download a free piece of software called Stellarium. It's really easy to use, just tell it where in the world you are (nearest big city will do), and then it will show you in real time what can be seen in the sky.

http://www.stellarium.org/

[Adrena1in]

Originally Posted by socalrailfan

Thanks. What was weird too was that the planet seemed to be pulsating. Nothing else in the sky was, just it, weird.

That'll just be atmospheric turbulence. You'll see how stars and planets "twinkle" more the nearer they are to the horizon, and I suppose the brighter they are the more noticeable it is.

[socalrailfan]

OK thanks.