Every morning i look into the sky clouds permitting i see a Star which is usually bigger than all the others and far brighter.
This is usually to a South east direction.
Not being an expert on astronomy i think its

1. Venus

2. A space station or some large satalite.

Anybody any ideas of what this is.

What you see is the Planet Venus, it has no light of it's own but reflects the light of our Sun from the clouds of Sulphuric acid two hundred miles thick. Although it looks beautifull, it is in fact a very hostile place and anyone or anything going there would soon disolve in the pure concentrated acid which surrounds the Planet.

I have to disagree with Halevan, I think its Saturn, although I am no expert, I read recently that Saturn is at its nearest around now and it is visable in the east.

More info

here (http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/viewing.cfm)

also found this

Saturn was in opposition on 31st December and is now visible all night long, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.
The planet is prominent in Gemini, lying close to the twin stars, Castor and Pollux and above the spectacular winter constellation, Orion.

Look for the starlike Saturn close to the Moon on 6th.

no its deffinitly venus, i know an expert on astronomy who is very excited about been able to see venus at the moment. I cant say ive ever payed that much attention to the stars and planets myself

at this time of the year its Saturn

a few weeks ago we looked at it through a telescope and you could see the rings and everything

we also look at uranus (no rings there though) :D

Fletch

So what you guys are arguing about is, the fact it's not a star at all??? It's a planet!

Either Saturn or Venus!

There you go CR... it's either Saturn or Venus mate!

Originally posted by The Cycleracer
Every morning i look into the sky clouds permitting i see a Star which is usually bigger than all the others and far brighter.
This is usually to a South east direction.
Not being an expert on astronomy i think its

1. Venus

2. A space station or some large satalite.

Anybody any ideas of what this is.

It wont be a space station (the space station) or a satellite cos generally speaking they move quite fast; unless it is in geostationary orbit in which case it will be so far away you won't be able to see it.

If you have ever watched the Internation Space Station in a sun lit pass, you will notice it passes overhead much more like an aircraft than a satellite, going fastest perpendicular to your position.

It's saturn. Venus is showing in the evening at the moment.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme

It's saturn. Venus is showing in the evening at the moment.

the silver tongued devil hath spoken and laid the debate to rest.;)

Actually, I think you'll find that that is a star named after an ogre called Bloodnut, the Flatulent. The little stars to the side are the hunters running away from his stench.:mrgreen:

I'm no expert, but if you saw it in the morning it could well be Jupiter, which is currently in the South West in the morning. Could also be Mercury which is in the South East, but I think it is quite low so may not be easy to see. Venus is also in the South East but doesn't rise until around 10am so not sure if you can see it at that time - although I haven't looked.

I saw saturn yesterday evening through a telescope for the first time and could definitely just about make out its rings - using a bit of imagination! The full moon is in the way a bit at the moment though.

If you are at all interested in this kind of thing there is a great website that will show you a whole sky chart for where you live that shows what you can see at any particular time of day/night.

http://www.heavens-above.com/

It also has all sorts of other nerdy stuff like where and when you can see satellites, including the International Space Station. I had a look one clear night and it appeared bang on time moving swiftly across the night sky. Quite spooky really.

Well according to this map (http://www.netheredge.com/nightsky040105_0700.gif) we're all wrong apart from norbo who has his facts straight.

I reckon what cycleracer is seeing in the morning sky is Mercury, in the south east. It's very low to the horizon though.

Good site Norbo, one for the bookmark collection I think.

Wow, some great answers here, most of them being wrong matters not though I did not realise there were so many planets in view.
I will be looking in all directions tonight to see what else is out there.
I was looking over to the south west a couple of nights ago and (lets say star for arguments sake) this phenomenen was larger than i have ever seen it.

I beg to differ with the lot of you, but I've been told that it's Neptune.

Looks like the brighest objects at the moment are Venus in the SW early evening, Jupiter in the SE late at night, then Saturn going East to West roughly following the moon during the night.
Neptune is definitely not visible at all.