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M81 by Ian Humphreys, WMA member

Venus at dichotomy                                             by Hugh Allen

24/3/2020

1 Comment

 
You can't miss Venus beaming down as daylight fades. In just a few days time, on Friday 27th March, it reaches dichotomy when it shows a perfect half phase. It is now almost at its greatest elongation from the Sun and won't set until near 11pm. Venus is so bright that a great moment to observe it is whilst there is still some daylight in the sky. It looks like a tiny featureless Moon. Here's a quick iPhone photo I took yesterday in fading daylight through the eyepiece of my telescope:
Picture
And Venus is still getting brighter. It is swinging towards the Earth but declining in phase to a crescent. These competing effects reach tipping point at the end of April when Venus peaks in brightness at an amazing magnitude -4.5! Make sure you catch Venus over the next few weeks, it's a beautiful sight.
1 Comment
Gordon Dennis
6/4/2020 11:17:49 am

Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system. It's surface temperature is much hotter than that of Mercury, despite the fact that Mercury orbits much closer to the Sun than Venues does.

This is due to a runaway greenhouse effect which has produced Venus' extremely dense atmosphere - about 1,000 times more dense than that of Earth, which helps make Venus the second brightest object in the night sky.

Climate change deniers, please note.

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