At 20:00 on 1/12/97 I saw a bright star about 10 degrees above the south south east horizon. What was it?

Well, at 20:00 EST, this corresponds to 1:00 GMT, and a Local Sidereal Time of 3h 45m.If it is south-south-east, this puts it about 1h 30m to the east of the meridian, or at RA = 5h 15m. The only bright star anywhere close to that location is Sirius, which would be the brightest star in the sky. This would be my best guess. Loking out my window at 8:00 PM this looks about right.