A weapon consisting of a heavy ball set with spikes attached rigidly to a staff, in contrast to a flail
Contrivances like these, except that the balls were armed with spikes, were long carried by the pioneers of the trained bands, or city militia, they are generally called morning stars.
The morning star is the planet Venus, which can be seen shining in the sky just after the sun rises. A planet, especially Venus, visible in the east just before or at sunrise. a bright planet, usually Venus, that you can see in the eastern sky when the sun rises