Wonderful picture of Orbit of Venus

Hehehehe, Seanie! :lol: :lol: :lol:

If it wasn't for my hard disk crash last fall, this baby would have been completed. Anyway, another stab at it is underway.

Patience and perseverence as usual. :!:

What kills me is what kind of jammy sod gets a whole month of clear horizons!!!

Errmm......not a whole month

This was taken since last May-June!!!!! :shock:

Keith..

I've already alerted a few people to the possibility of seeing Venus close to, or at, THE MOMENT of solar conjunction with the unaided eye in March 2009 ( www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~dfischer/21/ ).

if the moment coincides with the end of civil twilight (Sun six degrees below the horizon), Venus will still be above your local horizon as it is eight degrees north of the Sun and so in all likelihood will be visible.

an extraordinary opportunity to chalk up a rare unaided eye sight -- one I only know an Icelandic amateur astronomer to have achieved back in the early 1970s.

John
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I've already alerted a few people to the possibility of seeing Venus close to, or at, THE MOMENT of solar conjunction with the unaided eye in March 2009 ( www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~dfischer/21/ ).

if the moment coincides with the end of civil twilight (Sun six degrees below the horizon), Venus will still be above your local horizon as it is eight degrees north of the Sun and so in all likelihood will be visible.

an extraordinary opportunity to chalk up a rare unaided eye sight -- one I only know an Icelandic amateur astronomer to have achieved back in the early 1970s.

John
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John,

According to Starry Night, Venus's disk illumination on that date will only be about 1%, so will it in fact be possible to see it with the NE, even if you have a perfectly flat and clear western horizon?

Paul,

Seeing it is a piece of cake! I observed and imaged it in mid-January when it was just under 0.9% .... in fact it was clearly visible in my TeleVue Pronto as well during midday and only 3-4 degrees away from the sun.

If you would like I can upload my image of Venus from mid-January.

... I observed ...

Naked-eye of course ....