Goodbye/Hello Venus - Contests

Perpetually beautiful Venus will soon pass between the Earth and Sun, achieving Inferior Conjunction in celestial longitude on 2006 JAN 13 at 23:59 UT. That will end her latest nine-month apparition as our scintillating Evening Star, while she takes a moment to transform herself into an equally brilliant Morning Star.

That presents contest opportunities. Who will be the last to sight Venus as the Evening Star? Who will be the first to spot her as the Morning Star? Such observations were highly regarded rituals in the societies of many of our ancestors. We can have winners in each of three categories: Naked Eyes, Binoculars and Telescopes. That’s a total of six contests. No prizes, just bragging rights.

The first ground rule is just that: The observer must be on the ground or a structure attached to it. Then for the Evening Star contest, Venus must be seen after sunset. For the Morning Star contest, she must be viewed before sunrise. Daytime sightings do not count. They could also be dangerous. Since the planet will appear to pass north of the Sun by 5.5°, observers in the northern hemisphere will have an advantage.

I’ve created a graphic that depicts Venus in the western sky 15 minutes after sunset as viewed from Chicago’s Adler Planetarium for 12 evenings leading to conjunction. Nevertheless, the images should well serve most northern hemisphere observers. Venus is greatly enlarged in the diagram. Each depiction is labeled with the planet’s stellar magnitude, the date and the percentage illumination of the apparent disk. To see the graphic, click: http://www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html

EDIT: The evening apparition graphic has been removed and replaced by two for the morning apparition.

Shortly before the conjunction I will upload a similar graphic depicting Venus in the eastern sky 15 minutes before sunrise for the 12 mornings following conjunction. I’ll also be putting up an image that demonstrates the planet’s entire morning apparition through October.

You are invited to report your sightings within this thread, including your location and time of observation. Anecdotal details would be nice, and photographs would especially be appreciated. Good Luck to All.

Pasted below is a report from a southern California participant in the message board at astronomy.com where I initiated an identical thread.

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Hello Centaur,
Here is my report for Sunday Jan. 8, 2006:

2006-01-08 19:10PST
At first I went out at 4:30PST to the parking lot of my apartment complex and quickly realized that there was a strong possibility of not seeing Venus due to the buildings obscuring my horizon. The sky was very bright and hazy.

At 4:40 I kept trying but I then realized that I was also running out of time. So forsaking my telescope, I jumped into my truck with tripod and binocs and zoomed to a spot here in the city I scouted out on a previous trip.
From my perch on the top level of a large parking structure I looked but could not see the planet at first with the unaided eye.

So at 4:55PST pulling out the tripod and my binoculars, I found Venus with my 10x50s; There was no wind and calm air; A reddish-brown layer of smog and marine clouds painted the western horizon;
After spotting Venus it was easy to pick it up with my eyes. With the binocs I could easily see the very thin crescent of Venus, but with my unaided eye I could only make it out as small star-like object.

At 5:13PST, Measuring the altitude with my makeshift protractor I found the planet at approximately 5° degrees above the horizon. A large distant tree seemed to point the way.
The smog or marine layer seemed to recede just a little making it easier to pick up with the unaided eye.

At 5:18PST it seemed still to be a little easier to see. Maybe because the sky was getting darker?

At 5:24PST the cloud layer very slowly started to rise and increase. The air began to chill slightly.

At 5:32PST found that it is now getting harder to pick up with the unaided eye. Still visible in the 10x50s.
Seeing is horrible with distortion apparent even in the binoculars.

At 5:35PST Lost Venus with the unaided eye. Still visible in the 10x50s.

At 5:37PST Still is visible in the binoculars but is lost to view by unaided eye. Distortion increasing.

At 5:38PST Getting so dark I cannot write anymore and now realize I forgot my flashlight (aarrghh!).
I ended the observing session. It was great.

Clear Skies --- Silveradogold

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33° 48' 44"N, 117° 55' 06"W