# Big gleaming star overhead in Haiti-San Domingo December night heaven ?



## vanostade (Jan 4, 2008)

Can someone of our community  tell me the name of the big star  gleaming in December  just overhead  in San Domingo's ( next to Haiti , West Indies) heaven . To me it seemed part of a big constellation looking like a soaring eagle . Local rum was not in cause , neither the soft sand underneath  , nor  the sea  sweetly churning by ...Thanks in advance for the answer , & best new year wishes to all ! 
signed : vanostade 
PS :What links with Mac ? Obvious , dears ! :I°/ there is a good man (Bob , I have read  about you lately , your friends  miss you a lot ...) nearer to the stars    -  and 2°/ The  rusty-dusty-not at all weather proof -never working  hotel  computers stacked under a shack next to the swimming pool where not Macs ...


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## chevy (Jan 4, 2008)

Venus ?


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## Rhisiart (Jan 4, 2008)

A case of HAPE?


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## CaribbeanOS-X (Jan 4, 2008)

vanostade:
Not sure which one you are talking about... it's 13:30 at the moment... i'll look overhead tonight and then figure it out. But in the mean time... here is a little info on December star watch.
http://www.astronomy.org/StarWatch/December/index-12-07.html

It might be the recent launch of the iStar?

Enjoy the day.

CaribbeanOS-X


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## fryke (Jan 4, 2008)

Usually, the brightest star on the sky is the sun. If you mean nightsky, it's Venus or Mars.


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## CaribbeanOS-X (Jan 4, 2008)

Ya... that would depend on location and time of night for the two afore mentioned planets.. as for the sun... all i know is that, i got a better tan than you... that's settled.  

Happy new year Fryke, hope the holidays were good to you.

Best,

CaribbeanOS-X


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## chevy (Jan 4, 2008)

This December was a very good month to watch Venus.


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## Rhisiart (Jan 5, 2008)

_To quote Wikipedia_: Venus 'overtakes' the Earth every 584 days as it orbits the Sun. As it does so, it goes from being the 'Evening star', visible after sunset, to being the 'Morning star', visible before sunrise.


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## vanostade (Jan 7, 2008)

"Chevy-Michel" , merci for your answer. Have seen your site , bravo . Curieux de penser que nous regardions la comète Hale-Bopp , à 300 km de distance , il y a déjà 10 ans ...( In english , in case smbdy might be interested , as Mr "SATCURE" for example who told me he likes to read some french : "How queer  to think we were looking at comet Hale-Bopp , 300 km apart , and some 10 years ago yet ...". "CarribeanosX  pointed to me an excellent site you maybe already know : "www.astronomy.org/StarWatch" , ( CarribeanOSX m'a donné l'adresse d'un excellent site , que tu connais peut-être déjà : "astronomy.org/StarWatch"),  it gives you the sky map of the concerned day , & a lot of poetry too ( il te donne la carte du ciel du jour en question , et pas mal de poésie aussi ) . The gleaming "star" was in fact , I think ,  the planet Mars ,very bright because it was at that moment in opposition to the sun ( l"étoile" resplendissante était en fait , je pense , la planète Mars , trés brillante car elle était alors en opposition avec le soleil) . As for Venus , she is seen only at dawn or at dusk , and it was about midnight... ( Quant à Venus , on ne la voit que le matin ou le soir , et il était environ minuit ...)


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## vanostade (Jan 7, 2008)

"Chevy-Michel" , merci for your answer. Have seen your site , bravo . Ca me donne le vertige de penser que nous regardions la même comète Hale-Bopp , à 300 km de distance , il y a déjà 10 ans ...( In english , in case smbdy might be interested , as Mr "SATCURE" for example who told me he likes to read some french : "Makes my head dizzy  to think we were looking at the same comet Hale-Bopp , 300 km apart , and some 10 years ago yet ...".  To return to the night tropical heaven , "CarribeanOSX" pointed to me an excellent site you maybe already know : "www.astronomy.org/StarWatch" , ( Pour retourner au ciel de nuit étoilée sous les tropiques , CarribeanOSX m'a donné l'adresse d'un excellent site , que tu connais peut-être déjà : "astronomy.org/StarWatch"),  it gives you the sky map of the concerned day , & a lot of poetry too ( il te donne la carte du ciel du jour en question , et pas mal de poésie aussi ) . The gleaming "star" was in fact , I think ,  the planet Mars ,very bright because it was at that moment in opposition to the sun ( l"étoile" resplendissante était en fait , je pense , la planète Mars , trés brillante car elle était alors en opposition avec le soleil) . As for Venus , she is seen only at dawn or at dusk , and it was about midnight... ( Quant à Venus , on ne la voit que le matin ou le soir , et il était environ minuit ...). Salut , merci & à + . Signé vanostade 
PS : What is that "black box"  inside which you live ? ( Quelle est cette "boite noire" dans laquelle tu vis ?) I thought all the big strong combination safes  where in Zürich ...( Je croyais que tous les gros coffres à combinaison étaient à Zürich...)


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## vanostade (Jan 7, 2008)

"Chevy-Michel" , merci for your answer. Have seen your site , bravo . Curieux de penser que nous regardions la comète Hale-Bopp , à 300 km de distance , il y a déjà 10 ans ...( In english , in case smbdy might be interested , as Mr "SATCURE" for example who told me he likes to read some french : "How queer  to think we were looking at comet Hale-Bopp , 300 km apart , and some 10 years ago yet ...". "CarribeanosX  pointed to me an excellent site you maybe already know : "www.astronomy.org/StarWatch" , ( CarribeanOSX m'a donné l'adresse d'un excellent site , que tu connais peut-être déjà : "astronomy.org/StarWatch"),  it gives you the sky map of the concerned day , & a lot of poetry too ( il te donne la carte du ciel du jour en question , et pas mal de poésie aussi ) . The gleaming "star" was in fact , I think ,  the planet Mars ,very bright because it was at that moment in opposition to the sun ( l"étoile" resplendissante était en fait , je pense , la planète Mars , trés brillante car elle était alors en opposition avec le soleil) . As for Venus , she is seen only at dawn or at dusk , and it was about midnight... ( Quant à Venus , on ne la voit que le matin ou le soir , et il était environ minuit ...)


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## vanostade (Jan 7, 2008)

Hello Swansea Black Swan ( Rhisiart) ! Glad I managed to make some geeks eyes leave their screens for a moment , to look about the night winter skies and Wikipedia pages ...CaribbeanOSX left his sun-tanning bench to give me a precious adress : "astronomy.org/StarWatch" , which I hotly recommend : thanks to it I know now that on that December 31th night ,  I was fascinated by A PLANET : Mars , very bright at the moment because it was in opposition with the sun ! Ah , while I am button-holing you : I know now the "meath"  Lilbandit hates is a foot-ball club ( while I was thinking of a kind of hydromel...)  , please tell me what is a "HAPE" ?   Best regards  from  vanostade
PS : Speaking of hydromel , curious how "Fryke"  found at once that celestial body  was Mars ...The more I look at his identity photo , the more I ...Yes!!! Now I recollect his deep sunken eyes in a destroyed face  : he was one of those who kept clinging  to the bar while everybody was lying flat on the beach , and I heard ( without understanding at the time ) the bar-tender say to his mate " Every time Mars is on , there is no way to end them ...".


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## vanostade (Jan 7, 2008)

CaribbeanOSX : "Always ask a local man , he'll know better" ... Thanks a lot , StarWatch did it , I know now it was A PLANET : Mars , very bright because then in opposition wih the sun . But I am excusable : the Three  Wise Men of the East also thought it was a star...But how comes Fryke  immédiately spotted the two only possibilities : Venus ( but Venus can be seen only at dawn & dusk ...)  -  & Mars ...


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## vanostade (Jan 7, 2008)

Fryke , aye-aye , sir , thank you sir , now i am sure 
1°/ it was not the sun , but Mars
2°/ that you too where at the Cabarete Hotel bar on that 31th December nignt...


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