[Friends_of_SSASTROS] Something You Can Definitely See...

[Vernon Fritch]

Venus conjunctions in the near future:

In response to Mike's request for upcoming conjunctions involving Planet
Venus, the Master of Occultations (and Conjunctions) reports that Venus is
prograding eastward through the recumbent Virgo constellation.  It has just
passed Zavijava near the Virgin's head, and in September will conjunct
several other stars (and the Moon, too in one instance).  Most of the
appulses occur in daylight or with Venus below the horizon, so I am giving
the times shortly after sunset when the pairings are visible and before
Venus sets.  The ecliptic currently has a shallow slope, so the observing
window is under an hour after about 730PM.

     Next up:  -3.84 magnitude Venus reaches 3.88 mag Zaniah on Sept. 2,
just lower left of the star, the pair just south of west at 730PM.
 Following that, comes 4 days later, when Venus hangs lower left of 3.48
mag Porrima just south of west also at 730PM, on Sept. 6. There is a bonus
on the 6th:  A 13% waxing crescent Moon chums 2 degrees upper left of 0.98
mag Spica some 15 degrees upper left of the Venus/Porrima pair.

    Venus now strolls eastward for 1 and 1/2 weeks until hovering just to
the upper right of bright 0,98 mag Spica in WSW at 7 o' clock (note earlier
time due to earlier sunset) on Sept. 17.  This conjunction should be
attractive as well on Sept 16 and 18 due to the brightness of both
components.

    Venus is leading the eastward rolling planet train caboosed by Saturn,
so no conjunctions with planets are closely forthcoming.  The Evening Star
will next enter constellations Libra (think Zubenelgenubi) and Scorpio
(think head trio and Antares).  Also the Moon catches up with Venus at
intervals slightly longer than a month.
I will report further conjunctions as their dates approach.

 Vernon.


On Wed, Aug 28, 2024 at 10:16 AM Mike McCabe <cartech2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> ...and something you can't, at least not yet.
>
> I was on my way home last night from running an errand when I saw a rather
> ho-hum sunset along the western horizon. Knowing there was more to it than
> that, I pulled over and snapped a pic.
>
> [image: Inline image]
> See that bright dot just above the distant treeline and between the
> foreground trees? That's Venus, the mythical Goddess of Love and the second
> planet from the Sun in our solar system.
>
> Venus is having what we astronomy types refer to as an '*eastern
> elongation*', meaning that its to the east of the Sun in the sky from our
> perspective. It can also be called an '*evening apparition*', and that's
> because it will only be visible in the evenings until it passes in front of
> the Sun from our perspective, at which point it will then switch over to a '*western
> elongation*' and have a '*morning apparition*'.
>
> Due to the timing of this particular evening apparition in conjunction
> with Earth's travels around the Sun, Venus will appear to essentially slide
> southward at about the same altitude after sunset each night, this apparent
> sideways motion continuing until December. Come the Christmas month, Venus
> will then dart higher and higher upward each night, culminating at its
> highest in the western sky around mid-February.
>
> One of the more attractive parts of any Venus apparition is the numerous
> *conjunctions* that are sure to occur with any number of other objects in
> the sky. There are a number of sources that can help to keep you apprised
> of the travels of the Goddess of Love, and the SSAS membership roster
> boasts one of the best in the business...Vernon, watchugotforus? [image:
> Emoji]
>
> So while Venus is easy to pick out in the sky, the impending nova T Crb is
> not. That's because it hasn't happened yet, but you should be looking
> anyway. Nobody knows exactly when - or if - this event will occur, but it's
> easy to check in on to find out.
>
> [image: Inline image]
> This was my sky last night at just past 9pm. For those of us that look at
> the sky frequently, we can just scan the area and declare whether or not
> something is happening. For the uninitiated, a little help might go a long
> way towards understanding the scene.
>
> [image: Inline image]
> The brightest and easiest stars to see with the naked eye are Arcturus,
> Izar and Alphecca. Most of the stars seen in this picture show up well with
> just a 2x teleconverter held up to the eye. The advantage of 2x is that the
> field of view is very wide, allowing entire constellations to be seen in
> the same field of view.
>
> But you won't really need anything to determine whether the nova has gone
> into outburst or not. Supposedly it will brighten to the level of Alphecca,
> so if you just look at the western sky in the coming evenings and can see
> Arcturus, Izar and Alphecca, but no dot where T CrB will shine, then you've
> successfully determined that the nova hasn't happened yet, but if you do
> see a dot in the designated spot, it has. Now isn't that exciting?  [image:
> Emoji][image: Emoji]
>
> Keep Looking Up!
>
> Mike McCabe
>
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