Sadly with all of the light pollution here in NYC it's hard for me to see much when I look up at the night sky, but the few times I manage to spot something I'm always wondering "just what star or planet is that?" So I was happy to discover this nifty gizmo which can solve all of your astronomical identification needs:
"Take the MySky out of its package, plug in some batteries, go outside, preferably at night although even when you can't see them, the stars are still there during the day. Now let the MySky figure out its location and time via GPS. There are three different basic modes to using the night sky - Identify, Find, & Guided Tour. In 'Identify' Mode, the default, you will be presented with a real time LCD view of the night sky, complete with constellations. Simply point it to the object of choice in the real sky, and shoot. It will identify! You can also take a 'Guided Tour' of the best objects available to you at the moment based on your location, date & time. Finally, if you want to locate a specific object (planet, comet, galaxy, etc.) - you can navigate through the menus, select the item and your MySky will point out its location in the real sky."