Venus – Eskildoodle Photos and Feelings

Near and Far

The Moon is less than a third of the diameter of Venus, yet it appeares much larger since it was only 224 thousand miles away while Venus was over 142 million miles away at the time of the photo. The Moon is at crescent phase since it is sunward from Earth, while Venus is atContinue reading “Near and Far”

By the Dawn’s Early Light

During a recent morning walk, the dawning sky changed from dark and ominous to blazingly brilliant over a period of about 28 minutes. We heeded the warning of “red in the morning,” and were properly sheltered during the afternoon thunderstorms that followed. Undaunted, however, was a planet peering through the clouds. Venus, in the upperContinue reading “By the Dawn’s Early Light”

Planetary Pair

For a brief time this morning while on our walk, both trees and clouds parted to reveal this planetary pair. Jupiter on the left and Venus on the right are meeting for a day or two and then Jupiter will continue to ascend higher in the sky each morning, leaving the brilliant Venus behind inContinue reading “Planetary Pair”

Planetary Parade

This morning on our walk we saw the above spectacle, a rare alignment of the planets along with the Moon. Next month, Mercury will join the parade as well. Additionally, Neptune, not visible to the eye, lies between Venus and Jupiter. By the weekend Jupiter and Venus will be very close together, and the alignmentContinue reading “Planetary Parade”

Solar Siblings

This morning Venus (bright planet left central image) is joined by Saturn and Mars, the tiny pair to the upper right of the image. Saturn and Mars are so close together that they could both be covered by the disk of the Moon if it were in the right position. The trio of planets willContinue reading “Solar Siblings”

Venus and Mercury

The telescope awaited cloud dispersal in the early evening twilight yesterday, and I was finally able to get images of Venus (upper right) and Mercury (lower right). Venus shows a very thin crescent since it is between Earth and the Sun, while tiny Mercury appears round and is on the opposite side of the Sun.Continue reading “Venus and Mercury”

Planetary Trio

Three planets align diagonally between the palm trees in last evening’s twilight. Bright Jupiter rests at the upper left of the image, Saturn is in the middle of the image, and very bright Venus dots the lower right of the image. Mercury was just visible a little earlier near the horizon. A year ago, JupiterContinue reading “Planetary Trio”