Star next to the Moon?

It is Jupiter. It seems the answer "Venus" is given as a kind of knee-jerk reaction whenever anyone asks about a bright star. Right now Venus is only visible immediately before dawn.

And although Jupiter is certainly moving across the sky, it is not that which explains the change in positions: instead it is the Moon that has moved. The Moon moves very quickly across the sky and measuring this movement was actually used as a method of determining the time at sea in the era before accurate, portable clocks.

The bright "star" you are seeing is Jupiter. It is low in the south. Over the last few nights the Moon has been creeping up on it from the right and now it's passed it and on the left. In another month it will do the same thing as the moon makes it's whole trip around the Earth.

If you've got binoculars, take a look at Jupiter and you'll see some of its moons.

It's not Venus, it's Jupiter. The planet Jupiter has appeared in the sky near the Moon for the past few nights. Unlike the background stars, which appear fixed to the celestial sphere, planets move around the sky, since they are orbiting our sun.

The moon also moves against the background stars since it is orbiting the Earth.

The star is the planet Jupiter. The moon, in its orbit about the earth, moves from West to East and it is a little more easterly every night. Jupiter did appear to be left of the moon, but the moon's orbital motion

has carried it more to the East and now Jupiter appears on its right. The moon orbits the earth in 27 days - during this short time, Jupiter barely moves in its orbit around the sun, because it is far away

You are presumably living in the northern hemisphere, otherwise the moon would not be visible out of your south-facing window. This means you are facing the ecliptic, at the moment Jupiter is near the moon, as seen from the earth

It's Venus