Astroblog: Venus near the Moon, June 15, 2010

Monday, June 14, 2010

Venus near the Moon, June 15, 2010

Evening sky looking North-west showing Venus, the Moon, and bright stars at 6:30 pm local time on Tuesday June 15. Click to embiggen.

The evening of Tuesday 15th is enlivened by the thin crescent Moon being close to Venus. As the view develops as the twlight deepens, you will see the Moonshine begin to glow against the darkening night.

This is a good opportunity to see Venus in daylight. You must be very careful to make sure you don't look directly at the Sun though. Hide the Sun behind a large object such as a wall or building when looking for Venus. The Moon is around 6 handspans from the Sun, but it is rather thin, and will be hard to see. You way want to try about an hour before sunset to give it your best chance to see the Moon. When you find the Moon, Venus will be seen as a bright dot just below.

Labels: Moon, Venus

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 8:24 pm

Comments:

I saw the moon and Venus from Hobart and it was great. What is the significance of why the moon was close to Venus-is there an explanation?

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:39 pm

the moon symbolizes our subconsciousness and Venus our expectations. When the new moon and Venus are this close, our suppressed expectations with regards to work, relationships and our life's goals become apparent. We are given the opportunity to acknowledge and act upon them.The way to rid ourselves of expectations is to fulfill the wishes of the people around us.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:20 pm

No significance per se. The Moon and planets all lie roughly in the same orbital plane, so as the Moon orbits the Earth it will pass objects near the plane of its orbit (The Moon advances about 15 degrees every night as it orbits the earth).

The combined orbit of the Moon (and the slight wobbles in the Moons orbit), the orbit of the Earth and for the planets, their movement in orbit, means that sometimes the Moon will be close to these objects during any given month (Venus is close to the Moon on 15 July, 13 August and 11 September for example). Tonight Mars, the Moon and Regulus are close.

# posted by