Topic
Western hemisphere? Clear Sky? Check out Venus in the daytime
http://www.space.com/15036-venus-daylight-skywatching-tips.html
Abraham Lincoln got to see it in 1865 and now it's our chance--might be our only chance. We're hazy as heck here where I am but I'm hoping for a bit of clear sky before the phenomenon is gone.
Please leave this here for awhile, in General--it may be off topic but it's marvelous and nobody will see it in Off-Topic.
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A tiny bit of help from the article for those of you who don't click even on space.com links:
Here's how to see it:Go out around 4 p.m. local time on Monday, and position yourself so that the sun is behind a chimney or rooftop to your right. Blocking the sun is always essential if you're looking anywhere close to the sun.WARNING: Never look directly at the sun with your unaided eye or through binoculars or telescopes without special light filters. Severe eye damage can result.Then face due south, and look two-thirds of the way up the sky towards overhead. If the sky is clear, you should be able to clearly see the crescent moon. Look just above the moon, and you should be able to see Venus as a tiny brilliant pinpoint of light.If you're any kind of astronomy buff you've been admiring Venus and Jupiter together in the evening sky to the right-hand side of Orion and the Dog Star (brightest star.) I make a point to catch these things. - lol am looking but theres a stupid tree
- If you harvest a stupid tree, does that mean you can get a superharvest with extra stupid?
- It's extremely clear here, but 5 p.m. so maybe I'm out of luck. I can't find the moon for reference, I will try later! The past couple of days I've been watching the sunset over the lake, and have seen a brilliant *star* near the moon on both nights, I presumed it was a planet. I wonder if that is what I've been seeing?
- Jupiter and Venus have been quite near each other and amazingly bright. The moon takes an arc across the sky of course just as the sun does. (Remember your basic flat-earth society lessons? they go around the earth, right?) (Haha.) Anyway, I am not sure which star you're talking about but the three brightest things in the sky besides sun & moon are Venus, Jupiter, Sirius, and (sometimes) Mars. I can't see Mars with the naked eye, even when it was at its brightest for ages to come, but most people see well enough to see it and even discern its ruddy color.
- No idea, I'm no astronomer here. Pretty confident it's not Mars, though. :P
- Thanks for posting this, Silky! Really interesting. My dad showed me how to distinguish between planets and stars when I was little, and I had noticed Venus recently at nighttime, but didn't know why it was so visible recently.
- The Venusians are having Carnival a little late, and you're seeing the bright lights from all their floats and their garden parties. As for Jupiter, I don't know what's happening there--I didn't get invited to THAT one. I guess they know it's a bit too far for me to go.
- It may be too late for most people, but maybe somebody can still see it. I'll send something WAY COOL to anyone who can post a link to a photo he/she has personally taken of it. Otherwise, I'll just keep having a sad over missing it myself. GL glitchen.
- No luck in North Florida, but thanks for the heads up. I wish I'd known earlier! :)
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Western WA. About 8PM PST
http://i.imgur.com/oCdUL.jpg - Linnaea, make sure you check your mail today. :)
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That was an awesome picture Linnaea!!.
I love looking at the stars and my phone has a star map so I can point it up to the sky to see what's what..
Thank you for sharing, Silky! - Yesterday isn't the only day it should be possible to see Venus during the day. Right now it is at it's brightest, and should be visible for daytime viewing for a while yet. My kid's like to point out the 2 planets they see now every evening. Mars is also clearly visible to the east in the evenings.
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It's visible from my front door at the moment - 20.28, British Summer Time, Watford, Herts, UK.
Thank you for mentioning it!. I havre taken 2 photos; I'll see if I can upload them from my camera...
