2003-12-30 - Lancaster, TX - Light

Bright planet or satellite above horizon near Dallas-VERY bright

There was(is) a brilliantly bright planet or satellite hovering in the western sky above Dallas (approximately) this evening as I write this report. It is unmoving and at first I thought it was Saturn since that planet is supposed to be very close the next couple of days. Well, wrong part of the sky for that. I noticed it at about 6:45 and it is still very bright and unmoving in the sky. It surely must be a planet, like Venus, but I am not able to verify that yet. Whatever the case,it is very cool to look at and wonder...I can see why Venus is mistaken for a UFO so often now as I have NEVER seen a planet this bright before! Maybe it's a satellite?? I believe this would be in the western part of the sky, opposite to Orion constellation which is plainly visible also. It is well below and to the right of the moon and bright white.