Venus will become a waning crescent in over the next few months

[StarDuke82]

As I am sure everyone knows Venus is very prominent in the evening sky at the moment and has risen well above the horizon and over the course of April it will reach its highest point above the horizon on may 1st and then start its descent back towards the horizon line and wane into a crescent and gradually grow larger as its orbit brings it closer towards the earth (relatively speaking) hanging low on the horizon in early August.

Edited March 25, 2023 by StarDuke82
Dates were wrong

[Jim L]

On 25/03/2023 at 14:41, StarDuke82 said:

As I am sure everyone knows Venus is very prominent in the evening sky at the moment and has risen well above the horizon and over the course of April it will reach its highest point above the horizon on may 1st and then start its descent back towards the horizon line and wane into a crescent and gradually grow larger as its orbit brings it closer towards the earth (relatively speaking) hanging low on the horizon in early August.

This is an extraordinarily concise and elegant graphic.  Is this something you put together yourself, or is available from a website and if so which?  It would be great to have similar graphics for all of the planets.

[mikeDnight]

Interestingly, although the greatest eastern elongation is on June 4th, Venus very often misleads the visual observer by appearing to be very slightly gibbous, or very slightly crescent. I wonder how many observers will see this effect, and how many actually detect a precise first quarter phase? Also, whether this phase anomaly is seen in images? 

Inferior conjunction is on August 13th, but as Venus approaches  IC, it is fascinating to watch as the crescent phase becomes very large and very thin. Providing the observer can situate the telescope soit can't inadvertently sweep across the Sun, it's possible to catch the phase as it moves towards an annulus. It's also noteworthy to mention that the entire globe can be seen, a little like the old moon in the new moons arms, as it is set against a blue sky. Following Venus in this way is greatly entertaining. Only beware the Sun!

The sketches below were made years apart. The first with a 120 Equinox ED showing the globe hanging almost in 3D, and the second using a 100mm refractor and showing a 4% phase, which is my personal best to date. The british weather was my biggest hindrance, and probably prevented further observations.

Equinox 120ED 

FC100DC

 

[GordonD]

Yes agree with Jim that is a really clear and helpful picture of the the changes. Thanks for posting it. Did you do it yourself?

[StarDuke82]

On 10/04/2023 at 03:56, GordonD said:

Yes agree with Jim that is a really clear and helpful picture of the the changes. Thanks for posting it. Did you do it yourself?

 

[StarDuke82]

I actually found this particular image online while looking for what particular phase Venus was in at the moment and actually found a current visual 2023 Planetary Guide for Venus, although I do sketch my observations from time to time and I am beginning to venture into Astrophotography.

[Jim L]

I’ve located the source:

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/venus-after-sunset-greatest-elongation/

It appeared in EarthSky’s Astro-Essentials section.