What is the planet above Venus right now.

[spaceman_spiff]

I know it is a bit off topic but I think it is relevant here.

A few years ago I was showing a friend Jupiter from outside my house when someone came up to me and insisted that it was not Jupiter at all, but a bright star. I got my binoculars and showed her Jupiter's unmistakable disk and line of moons, she gasped and said "I always thought that the planets would look like big balls in the sky - like they do in books." I explained that pictures of planets in books are magnified and in reality the planets are so far away from us that despite being like "big balls" they appear to us as small, bright points of light. 

She had that moment when a long lasting, deep rooted misconception was suddenly banished from her mind by reality. I am sure that because of that chance encounter she now has a more slightly more realistic understanding of astronomy. 

Dean, having an interest in astronomy is always a good thing but I fear that you may missing out on some of the wondrous aspects of astronomy if you see it from the viewpoint of government conspiracies rather than evidenced scientific enquiry. I am sure that as you research and discover astronomy you too will have those 'wow' moments.

You are entitled to your beliefs, but others may not agree.

Dan.

[Moonshane]

The irony is that reality is more amazing than the claimed conspiracy theories

[ghostdance]

Jumpin' jehosaphat! It's moved...it's on the right of Venus tonight...it's evidence! They're movin' stuff around up there and they ain't tellin' us!!!

Sorry...was irresistible.

But - planetary motion is a whole lot simpler than any conspiracy theory

ps - I don't know much about either, but I can see which one *works*!

[Paul M]

Orbital mechanics is a fascinating subject even, if like me, you have no mathematical understanding of anything.

An old joiner (carpenter) I used to work with once started telling me about ellipses. He'd learned about them in technical drawing classes at night school when he was an apprentice.

I mentioned Conic Sections and that an ellipse is a Conic Section. No way would he have it. He laughed and ridiculed and shouted and got mad at me for not listening. It was obvious to him that such a sectional plane would prescribe an oval and not an ellipse.

We didn't have a solid cone to start slicing up so I showed him using drawing techniques he was familiar with (projections and development) that he was wrong.

He was surprised to the point of being shocked. He did some drawing himself just to check my work.

By the end of his "lesson" he understood the difference between a parabola and a truncated ellipse and that a curve parallel to an ellipse is not itself an ellipse! 

He was surprised that I'd learned all that from astronomy books..

[Steve Ward]

But it's a whole lot easier with two nails and a piece of string ... 

[Paul M]

But it's a whole lot easier with two nails and a piece of string ... 

Bit too rough for formulating the trajectory of a space probe though!

[Mrbloke]

Just been looking up ovals and ellipses. My brain hurts.

[RLWP]

Just been looking up ovals and ellipses. My brain hurts.

It's mostly hyperbole

Richard

[Ant]

One interesting aspect of Venus is that over the nights you can see its phase change.

In evening apparitions Venus will first be seen as a small white ball close to the sunset horizon. As at comes round its orbit it gets closer to Earth and so appears larger but we gradually see less and less of its sun-lit side as it sweeps round in its orbit between the Sun and Earth. 

If you keep watching it over the next few nights you'll see it gets closer to the sunset each evening, it will grow a bit larger as it gets nearer and it will become a thinner crescent. 

Here is a set of images that I took to show the differences in Venus from about half way through an evening apparition to the end... Apologies for the small image - its the only one that I an get to from work... These images were all taken with the same camera/scope combination so ARE to scale.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Bit too rough for formulating the trajectory of a space probe though!

That depends how big the nails and the piece of string are

[Paul M]

Here is a set of images that I took to show the differences in Venus from about half way through an evening apparition to the end... Apologies for the small image - its the only one that I an get to from work... These images were all taken with the same camera/scope combination so ARE to scale.

Rather a nice project.

I'm a firm believer that even the most unpromising of threads can turn out good.

There will be a few novices reading this who perhaps aren't signed up members or don't know what or how to ask who will have gleaned something here. 

So the OP did ask a seemingly silly question but I'm certain it's been worthwhile answering it

[ghostdance]

Let me chime in with a 'newb' question - cos I don't know - does Venus ever have a 'full' phase?

In the brief times I've observed it (evenings only thus far, with scope. Naked eye only in the mornings), it's always as a First Quarter or fuller crescent. Sorry, don't know the correct nomenclature for Venus 

[DaveS]

I don't think it could, as Venus would be on the opposite side of the Sun from us. You could see a full disk from Mercury.

[ghostdance]

I don't think it could, as Venus would be on the opposite side of the Sun from us. You could see a full disk from Mercury.

Thanks Dave

Ah well....don't see much chance of me getting to Mercury - for awhile at least

[Paul M]

At superior conjunction Venus is on the far side of the Sun and it's fully illuminated hemisphere is facing towards us but hopelessly lost in the glare of the Sun or actually occulted by the Sun. But as Venus gains some angular distance from the Sun it will be visible in the evening sky as an almost full disc.

Likewise, Venus is lost in the glare at inferior conjunction or possibly even transits the sun's disc. So the best you'll see it as a vanishingly thin crescent as Venus closes in on the sunset.

As already mentioned, this all happens in reverse in the morning sky as Venus emerges from the glare of inferior conjunction.

That solar system model I keep linking to is very configurable and I've spent a bit of time playing with it.

It's possible to switch to visible mode and see the planet's play out their dance against the constellations, complete with phases.

Its wonderful to see it animated and explains a lot.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to export settings else I'd set the scene for y'all

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[Dave Lloyd]

We have helicopters in the area sometimes. They hang quite low, perfectly still with bright landing type lights even though its quite light. Once I thought " Venus shouldn`t be there", because that's exactly what it looked like.

[bmtta2003]

It's mostly hyperbole

Richard

is that an exaggerated parabola.  

You know how a mathematician scolds his children?  If I told you n, i told you n+1 times...

The bartender says, "We don't serve time travelers in here."

A time traveler walks in to a bar.