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This month, Venus puts on a show on the opposite side of
the sky as Jupiter and Saturn. It is the extremely bright "star" in the
southwest around sunset. Venus is the brightest object in our sky besides
the Sun and the Moon and when it is visible, it shines bright enough to
encourage people around the world to call local law enforcement, asking
about the strange bright object hovering low in the sky.
Venus reaches greatest elongation east on January 17th, 2001, that means
it is as high in the sky as it gets. It shines in the south west, so get
out there and have a look. It's dazzling.
In a telescope, Venus looks smooth and plain. That's because the planet
is covered with a very thick atmosphere that reflects the Sun's light.
Because Venus is closer to the Sun than we are, we can see phases in the
telescope much like the Moon's phases. |
