20 January 2015

Moon and Venus in the West

lender Moon and Venus
Wednesday January 21st, a very slender young Moon and Venus form a compact group immediately after sunset. You'll need binoculars to spot this grouping, as the thin crescent Moon will be easily lost in the glare of the sunset sky, but bright Venus should be easier to spot. There's something magic about the sight of the thin crescent Moon, just barely glowing as a small bit of its illuminated side is visible to us, and that small light has to be seen through the glowing atmosphere with the refracted sunlight still filtering through it.

In San Francisco, the Sun sets around 5:20 pm so the view here should be accurate for 6:00 pm. You'll need a clear horizon due west to see this. Best of luck and happy viewing!

If you miss the view on Wednesday, look again on Thursday as the Moon sweeps past Mars.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just before dawn on Jan 28 and Jan 29, 2015, I can see something setting in an arc in the NW sky of SF. It follows almost the same track as the moon, which sets earlier. It looks like a very bright star or perhaps a planet. It reaches the horizon just as full daylight arrives, so there is too much daylight to see it actually reach the horizon. I'm wondering what it is? Could it be Venus?

06 February, 2015 16:09

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