Venus

Image of the Day… ” Crescent Venus …” !!!

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Venus in daytime on August 30

Venus appears as a crescent for the same reason the moon does. It’s because, at times like now, its lighted side – or day side – is facing mostly away from us

Colorized image of Venus, by Maximus Photography.

Maximus Photography kindly granted us permission to publish his daytime image of the planet Venus, taken on August 30, 2015. He wrote:

On a short trip to Targoviste [a city in Romania], where I was hopefully going to catch the ISS in transit over the disc of Venus (transit duration: 0.02seconds!)

I had the luck of some very good seeing conditions for a short imaging session with Venus.

Unfortunately the ISS transit was a total failure due to technical problems (hard drives, focusing…) despite perfectly clear skies, and good seeing conditions.

Too bad about ISS, but the Venus image is wonderful! Thank you, Max.

Why does Venus appear as a crescent now? It’s because it recently passed more or less between the Earth and sun, in the course of its smaller, faster orbit. This inner world’s inferior conjunction, when it passed 8 degrees S. of the sun as seen from Earth, was August 15. Now the day side of Venus is still facing mostly away from us. We’re mostly seeing Venus’ night side. And thus this world appears through telescopes as a crescent, which will wax larger in the months ahead, as Venus flies ahead of Earth in orbit.

Bottom line: A photo of a crescent Venus in daylight by Maximus Photography. See the image and read more at his blog

Source,….www.earthskynews.org

Natarajan

Image of the Day… Daytime Moon Covers Venus…

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When the daytime moon covers Venus

Beautiful time-sequenced images from 2007, when the daytime moon covered the brightest planet, Venus.

When the moon occulted - over covered over - the planet Venus on June 17, 2007. Photo by Alfons Gabel.

We don’t usually run photos from years ago as our Today’s Image. But with Venus blazing away in the west after sunset, we figured … yes! On June 18, 2007, the crescent moon eclipsed Venus. The 2007 occultation of Venus by the moon was visible in broad daylight from Europe and later at sunset from the Middle East and India. Alfons Gabel – a team member at Trebur Observatory – caught the occultation from Germany. He wrote:

Reading your article about stars and planets in the daytime, I remembered a daytime occultation of Venus I recorded in 2007. Using the waning moon as an indicator in the broad afternoon sky, even Venus was easily visible to the unaided eye – surprisingly bright.

Although not on the central line at my location in Klein-Winternheim near the 2000-year-old city of Mainz, Venus disappeared for 1 hour and 22 minutes behind the moon.

Such a long period was only possible, because Venus followed the moon’s sidereal motion with one fifth of its speed.

The creeping disappearance and even the reappearance at the bright edge of the moon were unforgettable impressions.

Best greetings from the Rhine river!

Best greetings to you as well, Alfons, and thank you for the images on this page!

By the way, the moon will occult Venus twice in 2015: October 8 and December 7.

More info about 2015 planetary occultations here.

More photos from the June, 2007 occultation of Venus

 

Close-up of the June 17, 2007 occultation of planet Venus by the moon. Photo by Alfons Gabel.

Comparison of the brightness of the planet Saturn - and that of the planet Venus - during an occultation by the moon. Photo by Alfons Gabel.

Bottom line: Beautiful time-sequenced image from 2007, when the daytime moon covered the brightest planet, Venus. Photo by Alfons Gabel in Germany.

SOURCE:::: http://www.earhskynews.org

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Image of the Day…. ” Selfie with Venus and Mars…” !!!

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Selfie with Venus and Mars

The planets Venus and Mars are about to be amazing in the western sky after sunset. Watch for them. Cool selfie from Jean-Baptiste Feldmann in France!

Selfie by EarthSky Facebook friend Jean-Baptiste Feldmann in France. Thank you, Jean-Baptiste!

Isn’t this a cool image of the planets Venus (brighter) and Mars (above) in the western twilight sky? French photographer Jean-Baptiste Feldmann posted it at EarthSky Facebookover this past weekend (February 14-15, 2015).

It’s a beauty in and of itself and also because Venus and Mars are about to be amazing in the western sky after sunset. By this coming weekend, these two worlds will be at their closest since 2008. They won’t be this close again until 2017. What’s more, the moon is now coming back to the evening sky, and Venus and Mars and the waxing crescent moon will create some amazing sky scenes in the west after sunset, especially on February 20. Watch for them!

SOURCE:::: http://www.earhskynews.org

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