Venus and the Moon

Venus just had its greatest separation from the Sun a few days ago. Hence it stays up a long time after sunset. However, since the ecliptic makes a very shallow angle with respect to the horizon, it is relatively low in the southwest after sunset.

Last night, it was joined by the crescent Moon.

Tonight the Moon will makes it closest approach to Venus for this month so it will definitely be worth checking out.

Another challenge is to see Venus during the day. I blogged about this before (and have posted pics of Venus and the Moon during the day). One of the important things when searching for Venus during the day is to avoid looking at the Sun. Remember I said Venus is about as far from the Sun as it gets? Well, that makes this a very good time to try. I still recommend standing where the Sun is behind a building but you can see the crescent Moon. Find the Moon and look nearby for Venus. The chart below shows for about 1:30pm today in Tucson.

And of course you can take pics! I have seen people capture Venus during the day with point and shoot cameras so you don't need fancy equipemnet!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.