What's That Star/planet/satellite Seen In The Eastern Sky?

[Lynn_M]

Seen from the North East of England at 4:00 am. It was white, very bright and not round (sort-of horizontally elongated)

[Lynn_M]

....and it's fairly close to the horizon

[sandyRoe]

Sounds as though it might be Jupiter. The rings would give it that odd shape.

[sandyRoe]

Or is it Saturn has the rings?

[Quizproquo]

It was Venus

[mibn2cweus]

http://en.es-static.us/upl/2015/10/2015-oct-1-venus-regulus-mars-jupiter.jpg

[ToraToraTora]

Usually it's Venus, just before/after sunset.

[ToraToraTora]

venus has phases, hence not round.

[beso]

Definitely Venus. When at its brightest only 29 percent of its disk is showing.

[Hopkirk]

It's Superman

[Prudie]

It is Venus and is huge first thing in the morning at the moment. Looks like something off a Christmas card,

[Captain2]

Yes I saw it this morning on my way to work at 7.30 It looked beautiful.

[Hypognosis]

If you can see it as not-round without visual aids, we'll have to start calling you Hawkeye, Lynn.

Even with binoculars, I struggle to see the phase (not that I bother to try very often).

If it was low above the horizon, there may have been some lensing distortion because the oblique angle means you are looking through so much more atmosphere compared to looking vertically upward. Also, the bright side of the phase should at least face the sun which would be below the horizon and well to the left. So it should be at an angle, not horizontal.

Incidentally, I used to live on the Sussex coast and was able to see lights as bright as Venus, low above the horizon, but they were due north of me and it was nowhere near dawn or sunset, so I knew that they had to be something else. In binoculars, they turned out to be the paired landing lights on planes, probably heading into Gatwick. They were so far away, I couldn't hear any engine noise. They appeared stationary for more than a minute before turning to one side. I began to understand how UFO sightings can come about. :)

[Hypognosis]

Also, try

http://www.heavens-above.com

Site registration isn't compulsory but do tell it your viewing location or the Star Charts and flyby timings will be wrong for you.

[sddsddean]

If you have a smart phone, search for an app called 'planets'. Here is a link to their website
http://www.qcontinuum.org/planets
You can put the phone in 3D mode and when you hold your phone up to the sky, it will tell you what the planets and constellations are...very handy.