Been nice seeing you these past months, bright lady! Now you've gone off and are hiding at the horizon in the glare of the Sun.

See you in the pre-dawn sky by Thanksgiving!


Note: For Paul D, Carl D and others in the southern hemisphere, you've still a few days of exceptional viewing. For you, Venus is still visible shortly after sunset. With good binoculars or a telescope, Venus presents a thinning crescent as it begins to pass between Earth and Sun.


:)

Allyn

I had an astonomy prof who told us that he'd been in the Arizona desert, at night, when the brightness of Venus cast shadows!

Have you seen this picture? http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/ap020929.html

I've seen it once before, Noreen. But thanks for posting it again.

Sulphuric acid atmosphere. Ugh...

Good thing Venus is pretty to look at....:D

Too bad for all those sulphur clouds - can't see the Venusians or their spectacular cities.

I prefer the view of Venus I get when I look into the kitchen in the morning.........

Here is a picture without the clouds..... http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/ap020330.html

Thanks Allyn, I've seen Venus quite a bit lately - very bright, the weather's been perfect here in Perth the past couple of days, heading towards summer you know. :)

Actually, a lot of people don't realize Venus is at it's brightest when it's a crescent as this is when it's closest to Earth - when it's at the "full" phase it's on the opposite side of the sun but with it being much farther away it's not as bright.

Carl

i always appreciate the pix and astro updates. don't look into it myself, but find it fascinating when i read about it here.

Sophie-with-the-stars-in-her-eyes

You are spot-on, Carl! Venus is brightest a few weeks before and after inferior conjunction. Best telescope viewing also.

Here near Atlanta, the skies finally cleared after days of clouds and some much-needed rain. I was able to see Venus after sunset very, very low in the southwestern sky. I was surprised how bright it was through some distant smoke and with the sky still quite bright only five to ten minutes after sunset. But it faded after a few minutes. Time permitting, I hope to get out my small refractor and find Venus tomorrow during the daytime to get a view of the slim crescent phase.

It should still be easily visible from Perth after sunset, though that will rapidly degrade over the next few days as it sets earlier each night.

:D

Allyn