The sky scene in yesterday’s post about the array of planets in the evening sky remains usable until March 12. So here is that picture again, because something may have gone wrong for you.
If the post appeared defectively, with pictures missing, I’d like to know what device you used (computer, tablet, phone). It seems not to happen if your habit is to open a post by clicking on its title (whereupon it opens as a web page). I need to root out the gremlin. He may be a hit-gremlins sent by the Kremlin because of my sarcasms about Ukraine.
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This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
On the same day.
https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/425674-unusual-venus-inferior-conjunction-evening-morning-star/
Do you think I’d have a chance to see Venus as both evening & morning stars during this inferior conjunction if my latitude is ~34.24 and, if so, is there a reliable finder chart somewhere out there on the web? Idea for an article maybe? Would there be a better shot if Venus was at its maximum latitude around the winter solstice?
The answers are probably in my book “Venus: a Longer View”, but I must put in the time for studying it and writing a post about it nearer to the March 23 date. Your questions will be helpful I expect it’s worth trying anyway.
Charles,
You can definitely see Venus on the same day as evening and morning star during one of these late March inferior conjunctions. I did this during a Messier marathon on the night of March 23 – 24, 2009 (two Venus cycles ago). I began the evening by seeing the thin crescent Venus set just after sunset, and then after being up all night trying to observe all the Messier objects, the last observation I made was seeing Venus’ thin crescent before sunrise. The key is to have flat horizons to your NW and NE, as well as haze- and cloud-free skies. In 2009, the date of inferior conjunction was March 27, so my observation was a few days before that. Given the orientation of the ecliptic to our horizon in the northern hemisphere, I think the feat of seeing it in the morning and evening on the same day is easier a few days before inferior conjunction than on the date (this is because the evening observation is easier a few days prior; the morning observation is possible from about 5 days prior to inferior conjunction onward).
Another interesting thing to try is to observe Venus in the middle of the day on the date of inferior conjunction. If your skies are haze-free, block the Sun with a roof line and then use binoculars to look about 8 degrees above the Sun. If looking at local noon, Venus will be upper right of the Sun, at about the 1 o’clock position. I last did this in January 2022, when Venus was also well north of the Sun during its inferior conjunction:
http://www.starvergnuegen.com/astropix/2022/2022_01_08_venus_inf_conj.jpg
I have been one of your readers/followers for many solar revolutions and have learned much about Astronomy through your illustrations.
I can also relate to your ‘gremlin’ issue. For almost 2 months I could not get my web site to display properly. Turns out the gremlin was this missing character <.
Could be mine too, or close to it. That character is used to open some sp,e specoa; codes, and you have to be careful that they are also closed.