CRESCENT VENUS: Wondering where to point that telescope you got for Christmas? Here's a target that will blow your holiday socks off: Venus. Like the Moon, Venus has phases, and at the moment it is a slender crescent. Maximilian Teodorescu sends this Christmas Eve photo from Targoviste, Romania:
"I enjoyed another superb sunset with Venus dominating the southwestern sky," says Teodorescu. "The bright planet was visible even through cirrus clouds. Despite poor seeing conditions, the view through my refracting telescope was superb both at 30x and at 200x."
Every night the crescent grows thinner as Venus moves toward inferior conjunction with the sun in early January. Tonight, only 10% of the planet's illuminated hemisphere is visible from Earth. Because Venus is so thin, refraction in our atmosphere can produce a rainbow effect as colorful as any Christmas ornament. It really is a magical sight. More information is available from Sky and Telescope.
Poster' comments:
1) Last night where I live (roughly 36 degrees north latitude, 86 degrees west longitude) the Evening Star (Venus) was spectacular in the sky.
2) Even binoculars or the naked eye make a nice way to mull over the passing day.
3) The early morning sky (on this clear morning) has the constellation Orion in the southwestern sky at 0300 local, and that is pleasing to my eyes, too.
4) Venus will probably be the morning star, also, a little later today.
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