This evening in Dickinson, Galveston County Texas there is . . . ...

[lowell holmes]

a body about 30 degrees above the horizon that is bright in the clear moonless night sky. It is a bit West of the South meridian. I do not know, but I suspect it might be a planet, but it could be a star. It is a bit spectacular to an uneducated duffer. We are about 25 miles from the coast. It is in the Southern sky.
I was a quartermaster / signalman on a the Howard D Crow, DE 252. I used to go on deck on clear moonless nights and try to identify the planets and stars in the evening sky. This was 60 years ago. Any thoughts about my description? . . . . ............

[Bill Dufour]

See links below
Bil lD
Need a bigger city near you. All I found for dickson tx is denison tx. is that anywhere close? Or I think it works with zip codes?
I have no idea if first link is local time, dst or GMT.

(https://astronomy.org/StarWatch/August/index-8-20.html)https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/night/usa/san-francisco

https://astronomy.org/StarWatch/August/index-8-20.html

[Jim Matthews]

https://meaww.com/nasa-satellite-ogo-1-reenters-earth-after-spending-more-than-50-years-in-space-burns-up-in-atmosphere

[Lee Schierer]

It is probably Jupiter.

[John K Jordan]

.I used to go on deck on clear moonless nights and try to identify the planets and stars in the evening sky.

Do you use a smart phone? There are apps that use the sensors in the phone to orient a map of the sky and make it easy to identify things - as you move the phone the sky map will move. Any constellation, bright star, or planet can be easily identified holding the phone up so the back is aimed at the object. There are lots of these apps available for both Android and Apple. The Android app I've been using for years is simply called "Sky Map".

[lowell holmes]

Thanks, I just installed it on my phone.

[John K Jordan]

Thanks, I just installed it on my phone.

Let me know how you like it! (You can use it during the day to find the sun. :))
Many phones need the compass to be recalibrated fairly often. The Sky Map app tells you when and how, just takes a few seconds.

Another thing I REALLY like when looking at the sky with others is a green laser pointer. It's hard to point out individual stars or planets and even constellations to others with the hand but the green laser makes it look like the beam is going all the way to outer space! It works so well it is kind of amazing. (The red laser pointers are not useful for this) Just be careful not to even accidentally aim a laser towards an aircraft!!

JKJ

[Brian Holcombe]

Thank you for your service, Lowell.

[Bill Dufour]

[QUOTE=John K Jordan;3050962]Let me know how you like it! (You can use it during the day to find the sun. :))
Could have used that last week with all the smoke.
Bill D