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I currently live in the United Kingdom, in an area where the overall elevation is high so while the hills are rolling rather than peaky, they are all well above sea-level. A few weeks ago I was on a height and the sky was crystal clear. It was around 5pm in the afternoon. The moon was almost full and very visible indeed. There were also two 'stars' visible. I didn't have time to dwell on it then but I'm really wondering now what I saw. Stars are also visible here long after sunrise sometimes. In my mind, the obvious candidates are Venus and Sirius A but after many internet searches specifically under those titles and by asking about objects visible in the daytime, it seems that there is little to confirm that they can appear in the daytime (after sunrise). I doubt these stars could be any other candidates though. Could anyone provide specifics?

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It's hard to give a definitive answer to something like this, especially without more concrete information (e.g., a precise date, direction you were looking, how high above the horizon were the stars, etc.) but at the time and location you've indicated, it's possible you saw one of the brighter stars like Sirius, Vega, Procyon, Rigel, or possibly Capella.

Any planets would have been below your horizon at that time.

If you remember more specific details, you can play around with stellarium online to try and recreate your viewing conditions.

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This could well be one of the planets of the solar system. Currently (April 2022), Uranus, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn are in the vicinity of the Sun and visible only at dusk or dawn respectively. Venus and Jupiter certainly are bright enough that one may be able to see them with the naked eye if you happen to look in the exactly right spot.

At 5pm BST in Bristol/UK Venus still above the horizon, and so is Jupiter. Some of the brightest stars might be visible as well if you accidentially look in exactly the right spot with good visibility conditions (like Aldebaran, Rigel, Betelgeuze or Sirius).

View in Stellarium as seen from Bristol/UK on 13 April 2022 on 17h BST

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  • $\begingroup$ I wonder if the ISS could have been one of the 'stars'. $\endgroup$
    – Andrew Morton
    Commented Apr 13, 2022 at 20:30
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    $\begingroup$ Maybe. But the ISS moves quickly, so a bit hard to mistake for a star. And whether possible can only be estimated by really more detailed location information as its visibility depends a lot from it. $\endgroup$
    – planetmaker
    Commented Apr 13, 2022 at 21:48

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