My Astronomy Class - Venus & Jupiter

[Ad Astra]

Hi Folks,

Venus and Jupiter are very lovely in the Western sky just after sunset now. Both look bright and lovely, but their differences in orbit will be very apparent over the next month as distant Jupiter crawls westward across Aries and toward Pisces while Venus races eastward across the entire length of Pisces in just a month to catch up with Jupiter in the sky.

This exercise has the students comparing the western sky to the stellarium view (Stellarium has significant distortions as does any flat map) and sketching in Venus and Jupiter in their respective constellations.

Over the next 3-4 weeks, you will see Venus race eastward, rising higher in the sky each night as Jupiter plods slowly along. The difference in orbital speed and period between the inner and outer planets is rarely so clearly on display!

Have a go and let me know how you do!

Dan

Lab 4 - Venus & Jupiter.doc

[dr.robut]

Awesome, cheers. Anymore?

[Ad Astra]

Hello Dr.Robut,

Yes, there are lots more. I do these exercises for my astronomy students and post the activities here for folks to have a go and enjoy as well.

If you are interested, send me a PM and I will hook you up with a whole semester's worth of activities. (I do about 25-30 per academic year)

Glad you are enjoying it!

Dan

[UnderTheRain]

Yeah I'll give it a go too :-)

Cool and ty

[Dormouse]

Looks like something I'd like to try when I get my scope but guess no good in the UK?

DM

[miguel87]

So venus will move away from the sun for a while? (from our perspective)

I love watching the planets but get confused by mercury and venus, i thought we couldnt see venus when it was between us and the sun (unless transiting)

[gooseholla]

It depends where it is and where we are in relation to the sun. After all, our positions are never so exact as for Venus to be going across the face of the sun everytime in relation to us.

[Ad Astra]

When Venus is at quadrature with the Earth (Venus' position is 90 degrees away from Earth with respect to the Sun), Venus is in half phase. As it moves between Earth and the Sun, we see it in crescent phase - and the apparent size and brightness increase dramatically.

If you have a telescope or binoculars, you can watch the dramatic change in the phases of Venus over a period of weeks.

Dan