Betelgeuse: a question for stargazers

[Kilmeister]

Due to light pollution(I live just outside of Tampa), my view of the sky is very bleak. Anyways, tonight as i was sitting on my porch I could only see a single star. I fired up google skymaps and it seemed to point out Betelgeuse as the one star I could see. Googling seemed to verify my observations as it would be highly visible. My question is that is it likely that Betelgeuse could be the only star luminous enough that it would be the only one visible to me?

[K^2]

From Tampa? Unless it simply hasn't gone up yet, you'd see Sirius way better than Betelgeuse. Of course, it all depends on how clouds/haze are distributed. You could have so much more haze near horizon that Sirius is obstructed. Betelgeuse is also hard to confuse with something because it has a reddish tint that's very persistent even when the star is difficult to see.

What was the time? That can help a lot.

[Kilmeister]

I think you`re right. The moon is now in view, and using it as a definate reference, it was Sirius as the only visible star at the time. ,

[Brotoro]

You sure it was a star? Jupiter is currently the brightest object in that part of the sky.

[K^2]

If you have a smartphone, you might want to get yourself Google Sky Map for the future. It uses GPS, compass, and accelerometers to figure out where you are pointing your phone and where from, and draws the sky map that corresponds to that direction. So you literally point your phone at the star and read off the name on the screen. Now, it's far from perfect in determining the orientation, but it can put you close enough to figure out the rest. And it is certainly way more precise than trying to guestimate azimuth and altitude by eye.

[bsalis]

Talking about Google, theres an app called Google Sky Map that can answer these mysteries. With the Lat & Long correctly set, and using internal sensors (such as the compass), the smartphone app will simply show you what it is pointed at.

[Winter Man]

Wasn't going to comment, but as both of you said it... Get Google Sky Map, it's great.

He said he used it in the OP.

[lajoswinkler]

No, that must've been Jupiter.

If you can see Betelgeuse, you must see Rigel, Aldebaran, Sirius... at least.

If you see only one thing, it's Jupiter at this point in time.

If you own a smartphone and you use Android OS, I recommend this.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.escapistgames.starchart

It's a great tool.