What is the brightest star to the south in Chicago?

I was in the Chicago suburbs and there was a very bright star to the south or southwest. It's the brightest star in that direction and is visible to the naked eye. I looked at some sky maps but can't figure out which star that is.|||http://www.stellarium.org/


This is great freeware that you can download. It is an interactive star chart. Tell it where you are and it will tell you what you see. This free program can answer questions like this for you for years to come.





If you use this program, it will tell you that you were looking at the planet, Jupiter.|||Depending on the time of the year, it might be Capella, the little she-goat.





Rumor is that a certain goat died not too long after being denied entrance to 1945 World Series and has been up in the heavens cursing us ever since.|||It's Jupiter. It's rising earlier in the evening but has been in the night sky for a few months. If you have binoculars, take a look and you should see between one and four moons around it.|||Hard to tell without knowing what time of year you see the star. If it's late fall - early spring, it probably Sirius.|||Probably Michael Jordan.|||Sorry but it wasn't a star, it is the planet Jupiter.|||Right now probably Jupiter after dark is what you are seeing.|||You're looking at Jupiter.|||Good question! I'm not sure.