Hey gang! For the last week my family and I have thought that Venus was very bright in the night sky. Brighter than anything else except the moon.

Turns out that it's Rigel, not Venus. Carol and I were talking about it and only know it's Rigel because of an app on her phone.

So, does anyone know WHY it's so bright, lately?

Tried google and NASA and don't see anything.

Rigel, the “Knee of Orion”, is a double blue-white giant only about eight hundred light-years away. So twin big, bright stars relatively close.

However, Rigel is only the seventh brightest star in the sky.

Usually, however, Rigel sits only a few lunar diameters above the horizon; when we look at it, we don’t need to crane our heads upwards. It therefore appears brighter than a star sitting up in the blackness high up in the sky. This is similar to the illusion that the setting or rising moon “grows” in size.

On the other hand, Rigel’s neighbohr, Sirius, the “Dog of Orion” is actually the brightest star in the sky. It is a medium-sized white dwarf (about twice the mass of our sun) less than ten light-years from Earth, and is twice as bright as #2 Canopus. But as it sits even lower in the horizon, its brightness is often obscured—washed out by city lights, or by the thicker atmosphere. Sirius is even subject to the “sunset effect” which dims and reddens the setting sun. (and Sirius)

Just to confuse things a little, the closest star to Earth, Alpha Centauri (a triple star, comprised of Alpha, Beta, and Proxima Centauri) is also known as Rigel Kent, the “Knee of the Centaur”. Alpha and Beta are yellow dwarfs, very similar to our sun, and Proxima is a little red thing. Still, it is so close to us that it is the third brightest star in the sky, although unless you live south of the equator, you will never see it.

Klar, looks like I never responded to your kind post and it's information. I apologize and thank you for the info.