As I usually do when I go outside at twilight, I glanced over to the west to look for Venus and it was much lower toward the horizon than I was expecting. I shouldnt have been surprised; in two weeks its due for a close encounter with the Sun. On June 5\/6, itll pass directly between us and the Sun in an event called a transit. Ill have more info on that later, though you can read up about it at the Transit of Venus website. <\/p>\n
I set up my binoculars and even with such low power, Venus was an obvious crescent! I held my phone up to the eyepiece and took this shot: <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Its out of focus a bit, but you can see the phase. As Venus races past the Earth in its orbit, it gets a bit closer to us but presents a thinner crescent every day. Its moving so quickly now that you only really have a few more days to take a look before its too close to the Sun to see comfortably. And then on June 5th itll look a lot different! <\/p>\n
Related Posts: <\/p>\n
- Venus rounds the corner - Its just a phase - Venus <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Follow this link: <\/p>\n
Your last chance to see Venus for the next few weeks | Bad Astronomy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I usually do when I go outside at twilight, I glanced over to the west to look for Venus and it was much lower toward the horizon than I was expecting. I shouldnt have been surprised; in two weeks its due for a close encounter with the Sun Continue reading