It’s hard for anyone to miss the brilliant evening star Venus during its current apparition in the western sky after sunset. It takes 1.6 years for Venus to lap Earth in their race around the Sun (synodic cycle). It was at its greatest eastern elongation of 46° from the Sun on January 14th. It will achieve its greatest brilliance for this apparition at magnitude -4.6 around February 19th. Later it will drop toward inferior conjunction between Earth and Sun on March 27th.
I’ve created a panorama of Venus in the western sky during its current evening apparition. It can be seen at http://www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html
The first chart below is one I made to demonstrate the relative positions of Venus, Earth and Sun during a synodic cycle.
The second chart is one I drew to illustrate the mean elongation of Venus from the Sun relative to the number of days from inferior conjunction. “Mean” refers to averaged values that assume coplanar orbits with zero eccentricity. Reality during any particular apparition does not deviate much from the mean.
I’ve created a panorama of Venus in the western sky during its current evening apparition. It can be seen at http://www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html
The first chart below is one I made to demonstrate the relative positions of Venus, Earth and Sun during a synodic cycle.
The second chart is one I drew to illustrate the mean elongation of Venus from the Sun relative to the number of days from inferior conjunction. “Mean” refers to averaged values that assume coplanar orbits with zero eccentricity. Reality during any particular apparition does not deviate much from the mean.
For astronomical graphics, including
monthly wallpaper calendar, visit:
CurtRenz.com/astronomical
Curt Renz
