Late March to early April is when the mysterious hui star of 5 BC was first observed.
Yes. I have here a copy the General Catalog of Variable Stars (Moscow, 1971) and it lists that object in the table of suspected ancient novae and supernovae. It was first seen on March 24, 5 BC, and remained visible for 76 days. The compilers of the catalog remarked "Either Venus or a comet could be observed" -- that's a translation from Russian, so the more literal may be "It was either Venus or a comet."
Whatever it was, it apparently was in the constellation of Capricorn, meaning it would be have been visible in the southeast or south, depending on the time of morning before sunrise that it was observed.