Moon and Venus
February 28th, 2009 at 11:10 am by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Weather
There was a nice pairing of a thin crescent moon (looks like a smile) and the bright planet Venus Friday evening in the western sky. The moon and Venus will still be shining brightly tonight, though not as close together. The moon will be a little “farther back” in the sky each night. Venus is visible until around 9:20 PM when it sets. The moon is about 240,000 miles from the Earth and 20% of the moon will be illuminated by the sun’s light tonight. You might be able to spot the rest of the moon very faintly. That is due to earthshine (the light from the sun, bouncing off the earth and providing a little bit of light to the moon. It’s hard to see, but Venus is also a crescent, with about 20% of its cloudy surface illiminated. The distance from Earth to Venus varies from 23.7 million miles at the closest to 162 million miles at its most distant spot. When Venus is farthest away, you won’t see it because it’ll be lost in the glare of the sun. When it’s closest it’ll be hard to see as we’ll be looking at the dark side of the planet.
Big storms down south in Alabama!
It was a beautiful sight. My daughter described it as “movie quality”.
Saw the paring on my way home from work and was curious. Went to Bill’s blog and had my questions answered. Thanks Bill!
i saw it tonight and wondered what it was i knew it was a planet now i know thank you for that my daughter is a huge fan of anything science related now i can tell her what it is she wanted to run out and get a telescope but we can not rite now bummer i was wondering if we could get a closer image of it if possible thank you
Thanks Bill, We noticed earlier And were wondering what it was. Our dad told us to check your blog
I looked out at 8:40 and saw the moon and a bright light. I watched for a while and realized that it wasn’t moving and was way to bright for a star. I suggested it was Venus, but my wife scoffed. She suggested we check your blog. Thanks for settling this (in my favor).
this is the most beautiful thing ever !
We heard you mention this tonight on the news…actually forgot about it until we noticed it in the western sky about 9PM. I forgot which planet you said it was…so here we are…getting that information. So many times we miss this kind of thing because of the weather, tonight it was beautiful! Thanks Bill:)
Very pretty sky tonight. Earlier I could make out the rest of the moon quite well, but the lit crescent was very bright.
The crescent moon/Venus pairing always reminds me of the Soviet Union’s flag (until it collapsed). The one with the hammer and sickle? Yeah. Odd association.
I hope to get a decent quality telescope this year at some point. We have a great vantage point to do some looking.
My husband and I were wondering what it was. I knew it wasn’t a star but couldn’t figure it out. Thanks Bill!
I noticed the spectacle on my way to the theater where I volunteer. Spectacular! Just off the top of my head, I’d guess Venus is about 30 million miles away and catching up with us in it’s orbit. It’s about 120 times farther out than the moon, and, this is a guess, but I’d think if you looked at Venus through a telescope, it’s cresent would be oriented almost precisely as that of the moon, only fatter. Wish I had a telescope to verify my suspicions.
Nice night to view stars, wish it were snowing though!
Bill do you think we will have any ice storms??
Were here in Chicago, they had clouds from the NE winds, some good winds at that, must be why it’s called the windy city!
So we didnt get to view the conjunction..bummer
We are to see a play downtown (Goodman theater)starring Brian Dennehy, my wife’s favorite actor!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Dennehy
Driving in Chicago 3:30 to 4:00pm yesterday (friday traffic) was worst than driving in a snowstorm…LOL
Taking the “L” train or cab to downtown today, no driving till tomorrow!
Did someone say Moon and Venus?
Close up
From downtown GR
Sitting here in Manistique, about 80 miles west of the Big Mac Bridge, at the top of Lake Michigan it was an awsome site for sure. Clear, bright and very cold night.
drove out last night…the image was crystal clear..beautiful..clarity was amazing..i wanted to call people and say get out from in front of your televisions and look at the sky….really breathtaking…
I live on Lake Michigan and it was one of the most beautiful moon sets I have ever seen! It was truely God smiling back at us! Thank you, Bill for sharing the cosmic information on TV, that is why I switched channels when you did.
That crescent moon-venus conjunction most closely resembles the flag of Pakistan, although there are six others with that combo.
Wow Rhonda! I can’t believe someone from Manistique actually found this blog! I was born there in 76 and became a troll in 81. Still have a cabin on Indian lake that I visit couple times a summer. Hope all is well up there!
I knew what it was as I see it all the time. It was awsome.It was good to see it with the moon.
Thanks for telling us that was Venus. I live in Florida and it was beautiful here last night and great to hear it was clear skies in Michigan for others to enjoy. All I had to do was look out the front door. What a sight.
I used to live in Michigan so check this website now and then.
We were wondering if the brightness of what is know as the northstar is close to the brighness of Venus? thanks
I read it somwwhere or heard it, that sometimes if Venus is bright enough, it can actually cast shadows on Earth. Have you any idea if this is true?
@janet hansen…. the North Star (name = Polaris) is actually a dim star in compared to the brightness of the planet Venus. Venus at its brightest is over 250 times brighter than Polaris.
@MAR 1974… Yes, Venus casts shadows. See here…
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/28nov_venusshadows.htm
Amazing site! love the easy layout