large bright star ... or small planet

Was it in the South but to the West of the moon IYSWIM
If so, yes I saw it too.

Sirius, the Dog Star (Canis Major) is particularly bright in the morning sky at the moment, as is Venus. More likely to be Sirius.

Could be the Space Station, we had notification on the news here that it was due to pass over soon.
St Nicolaas comes on Thursday and thus the Christmas season begins.
The local news points out the station for children to trace his passage, and get interested in space too.

The think about the space station is that it’s not static, it moves across the sky quite quickly which is why it’s relatively easy to pick out. NASA used to have an online Santa Claus tracker. When GS was small we used to follow his progress up until Christmas Eve! It added to the excitement. Now he is nearly twelve. ‘Nuff said!

Venus is very bright in the dawn sky at the moment.
If you have an Amazon Echo, enable the Stellar skill. When you ask for a flash briefing it will tell you what you can see in the sky at any given time. It's very useful if you like star gazing.?

Oh wow so much info about things going on above our heads,.I bet you can guess what i thought it was being the time of year it is. If it is the planet Venus or Sirius maybe that is the star that the three wise men saw!!! Amazing to think it could be and i saw it all these thousands of years later. I was toying with the idea of attending our local church this christmas as i wanted to add something spiritual to my life and i shall take this as an omen to go ahead. Hope that doesn't sound to far out or clap trappy.

You can download various apps for your phone where you merely point at the sky and the names of the stars will appear for you. Memory fails me what they are called but I am sure google will help out.

It's the Star of Bethlehem!

Actually, it is most probably the planet Venus which is either a morning or an evening star.
The albedo of Venus is close to .7, meaning it reflects about 70 percent of the sunlight striking it. When the moon is close to full in Earth’s sky, it can look a lot brighter than Venus, but the moon reflects only about 10 percent of the light that hits it.

astronomynow.com/2018/11/12/catch-venus-near-bright-star-spica-in-the-dawn-sky
This was a couple of weeks ago.

If it twinkles, it's a star. If it doesn't, it's a planet. (Unless it moves visibly, in which case it might be a shooting star or a Space Station. Or a UFO.)

Scintillate, scintillate orb calorific
Fain would I know thy nature specific
Loftily poised in the ether so spacious
Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous

Love that one, Jalima

I remember it from school Blinko, one of the boys used to recite it!
I don't think it's strictly accurate (according to google), but it is word for word what he taught us - must be 60 years ago now.

Unlike you clever lot and my 5 year old DGS, I know sweet FA about planets. I must have been off school that day.

DGS wanted me to test him on planets yesterday, so I asked which was the smallest one (despite having no idea what the answer was). He looked at me intently and asked whether I was talking about the dwarf planets. I haven't the foggiest.

When I was young I used to star gaze (I Spy the Night Sky or some similar book) until I got a crick in my neck!
However, it's DH's hobby more than mine so I ask him if I need any info - or not, unless I want to get dragged outside and get another crick in my neck!

A dwarf planet is a planetary-mass object that is neither a true planet nor a natural satellite. That is, it is in direct orbit of a star, and is massive enough for its gravity to compress it into a hydrostatically equilibrious shape, but has not cleared the neighborhood of other material around its orbit.
Hope that helps Maggiemaybe - all my own words of course

Why thank you, * Jalima*. I was doing okay till I got to the second sentence.

learn by heart Maggiemaybe and impress your 5 year old DGS!

equilibrious?? Wozzat?

Great idea, Jalima, I will!

Thank you for that Jalima. I love hydrostatically equilibrious - will try to drop it into conversation at the earliest opportunity! And I shall use this new found knowledge to impress my own 5 year old DGS. Planets must be on the Pre-school syllabus as he learnt the order of the planets etc, last year.

At certain times of the year, with a decent pair of binoculars, you can see some or all of Jupiter’s moons.

NfkDumpling be careful who you say it to. They may think you're referring to them and take offence

There may be a clear sky at some time Greyduster, however it's been just thick cloud here all weekend.

I just stood in my garden and watched the ISS go over. It never fails to mesmerise me, like a large bright planet moving faster than an airliner, and then as quickly as it appears, it is gone. I have watched it many times and it fills me with awe every time.

Yes, just gazing up at it and thinking 'there are people in there, working!
Amazing.