Maximum Venus
Lately, have you noticed an extremely luminous star in the southwest after sunset? That's no star. It's Venus, and tonight it is at its brightest for all of 2013. Only the Moon itself outshines the 2nd planet from the sun:
Alan Dyer took the picture from a spot near Rodeo, New Mexico, on Dec. 5th. "The clouds cleared just in time for us to catch a glimpse of the crescent Moon above Venus, now at its most brilliant for the year."
Venus registers -4.7 on the scale of astronomical magnitudes. That means it is almost 200 times brighter than a 1st-magnitude star. If you have binoculars or a small telescope, take a closer look. Like the Moon, Venus has phases and tonight it is 27% illuminated. The bright Venusian crescent is easy to see through backyard optics.
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