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[Centaur]

Venus will soon be returning to our evening skies. Who will be the first to spot her? This observation was important to many ancient cultures. Here is your chance to take part in this ancient ritual. I propose a contest with three categories: Naked-Eye (the true champion), Binoculars, and Telescope. No prizes - just bragging rights.

Please report your sighting within this thread, including your location, date and time with zone. Other details of your observation would be appreciated. Photos would be most welcome. Even negative results would be interesting.

Venus' synodic cycle (time it takes to lap the Earth) is 19.2 months. On 2005 MAR 31 at 03:30 UT Venus was in superior conjunction with the Sun. During the coming months it will grow higher in the evening sky after each sunset. Below are calculations I've made that should help with your viewing. First is an explanation of the six columns.

1) Date (the time is 21:00 CDT or 02:00 UT the following day, except column #6)
2) Elongation in degrees between Venus and the Sun
3) Polar diameter of Venus in arcseconds
4) Fraction illuminated of Venus' apparent disk
5) Stellar magnitude
6) Altitude in degrees at sunset from Chicago

Date--Elon-Diam-Illum--Mag--Alt
04/15 04.2 09.7 0.997 -3.3 02.8
04/20 05.4 09.7 0.996 -3.3 04.0
04/25 06.7 09.7 0.993 -3.3 05.1
04/30 08.0 09.8 0.990 -3.3 06.2
05/05 09.3 09.8 0.987 -3.3 07.4
05/10 10.6 09.9 0.983 -3.4 08.4
05/15 11.9 09.9 0.978 -3.4 09.5
05/20 13.3 10.0 0.973 -3.4 10.4
05/25 14.6 10.1 0.967 -3.4 11.3
05/30 15.9 10.2 0.961 -3.4 12.2

The evening of May 8 will present an interesting opportunity to search for Venus in association with New Moon spotting. Venus and the Moon will appear near each other as shown in my graphic at www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Thats's excellent news that Venus has come out from hiding.

Good bright targets for spring and summer skies. Very good for public sessions.

[Centaur]

Chicago said:

Thats's excellent news that Venus has come out from hiding.

Good bright targets for spring and summer skies. Very good for public sessions.

It hasn't really come out yet, unless you have a scope with a solar occultation device. Other than that, I expect the first evening sighting with optical aid to come in late April and the first naked-eye sighting in May.

[Centaur]

A couple of observers at Cloudy Nights have reported telescope and binocular sightings of Venus. They accomplished these feats during daylight, which was not my expectation. Next time I'll be more specific. At least there's still time to insist that attempts to view Venus by naked-eye be made after sunset. I don't want anyone to get blinded.

Click below for the reports at Cloudy Nights:
www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/403609/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

That's quite cool for daytime spotting.

I remember my daytime session with Saturn last year. I followed it as long as I could from sunrise to early morning. It was a great way to spend an early Sunday morning!... ;D

[Centaur]

We have a winner in the main category: Naked-Eye. Navneeth (SN1987A) in Madras, India reported his sighting at the astronomy.com forum. The sighting came on 2005 APR 21 at 12:58 UT. Venus was elongated only 5.6 degrees from the Sun, which is about the minimum possible for observation by naked-eye after sunset. It was only 2.7 degrees above his horizon while the Sun was just 2.6 degrees beneath the horizon. Below is Navneeth's report:

"I spotted Venus (naked-eye) a few minutes back - 18:28 IST (GMT + 5.5 hrs) from Madras. I doubted my chances for this event because Venus was positioned pretty close to the west and there are many closeby trees and a far-off building that obstructs my view to a few degrees above the horizon. Thankfully ,from a gap between all this, I could see a tiny white dot. This was similar to the first time I spotted the crescent of the new moon. Therefore I checked several times before making sure that I was not hallucinating."

Navneeth is also the record holder and three time winner of my New Moon spotting contests. His tropical location gives him an advantage, but perseverance may be the larger factor.

For the entire Venus Spotting thread at astronomy.com, where I am known as Jovian Moon, click:
www.astronomy.com/asy/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14637

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

It will be great to have Venus join in with the rest of the evening planets. It will be a great spring and summer of pleasent planetary observation.

I wonder what it represents to have the major planets in the visible sky astrologically.

And that brings me to another thought....

I don't follow astrology, since logically it doesn't hold up. Considering for centuries, astrologers had been forecasting personal destinies with the major visible celestial objects. But then for example, Pluto was discovered, an object unknown and not assigned to any human attribute. But today it's for something or another.

Will Sedna be incorporated into the astrological family as well?

[Centaur]

Indeed, it will be nice having Venus join some of the others in the evening sky. In fact, in late June we'll have all naked-eye planets except Mars in the western sky after sunset. Mercury and Venus will get especially close to each other with Saturn right nearby.

In 2002 MAY we were treated to all five naked-eye planets and the Moon in the western sky after sunset. In 2040 SEP the spread among those six will be less than 10 degrees, although for northern hemisphere observers they will be very low in the west after sunset.

Modern astrologers have dreamed up supposed influences from several celestial bodies invisible to the ancients, including Uranus, Neptune and Pluto among others. It's especially amazing they would consider that tiny and distant Pluto and some still smaller objects could have any effect. I don't even classify Pluto as a planet, but we'll avoid that semantic debate here. I wouldn't be surprised if the astrologers are currently developing a set of attributes for Sedna.