Astroblog: My Images of Venus in the daylight, and more August 16, 2026

Thursday, August 27, 2026

My Images of Venus in the daylight, and more August 16, 2026


Venus and the Moon at 16:20, 1 hr 24 minutes before sunset. 10x zoom. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ƒ/3.4 1/5001sec exposure 18.6 mm ISO32;	Venus and the Moon at 16:21, 1 hr 23 minutes before sunset. 30x zoom. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ƒ/3.4 1/453 sec exposure 18.6 mm ISO32;	Venus and the Moon at 17:29, 10 minutes before sunset. 30x zoom. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ƒ/3.4 1/100 sec exposure 18.6 mm ISO40;

Venus and the Moon at 18:51, 1 hr 7 minutes after sunset. 30x zoom. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ƒ/3.4 1/100 sec exposure 18.6 mm ISO80;	Venus and the Moon at 19:40, 1 hr 56 minutes after sunset. 30x zoom. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ƒ/3.4 1/100 sec exposure 18.6 mm ISO100;	Venus and the Moon at 20:37, 2 hr 53 minutes after sunset. 30x zoom. Cloud cover. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ƒ/3.4 1/17 sec exposure 18.6 mm ISO2000;

Venus is approaching maximum brightness, so it is now visible during the daylight if you know where to look. On the 16th crescent Moon was about two finger-widths beside the crescent Moon, and was an excellent opportunity for finding Venus in the daylight. I was able to see, and image, Venus near the moon despite some cloud interference. Form about an hour before sunset on. You will have another chance to See Venus in the daylight near the Moon on 14 September.

Not only that, I had the opportunity to show the relative motion of Venus and the Moon. We tend not to notice the relatively rapid movement on the Moon during the night, not many people are out looking at the sky for hours on end. Only when the Moon is close to a very bright star or planet do we sometime take notice.

The Moon, which moves ~13.2 degrees every 24 hours, roughly 2.2 degrees over the period I was imaging. Alternatively ~ 4 lunar diameters, Venus moves on average ~1.2 degrees per day so the relative motion is easy to observe over a few hours. One of the more strange Flat Earth claims is that the Moon and planets move in lockstep. This is clearly wrong, as the above images show, and planetary occultations couldn't happen like the daytime occultation of Jupiter on November 3.

Again, with The Moon close to Venus on 14 September you will also have a chance to document the Moon's movement with respect to Venus, and again on the 18th September you will have a chance to see the Moon move with respect to the bright star Antares (some states will see an occultation).

While it is very easy to see Venus move from night to night with a handy reference star (from now until 2 September you can see Venus come close and closer to Spica until they are around 2° apart) Seeing it move during one night is harder. It only move 3 arc minutes per hour, and sets before a substantial distance can be covered.

On 2 September, when Venus is close to Spica, If you watch Venus between nautical twilight and Venus set through strong binoculars or a telescope (see chart to the left) You may be able to catch Venus moving with respect to Spica.

Mars moves a bit slower, ~ 0.5242 degrees per day (roughly a lunar diameter), but on 25 February you can see it move 8 arc minutes with respect to eta Leo from astronomical twilight to astronomical twilight on the 26th. You will need a telescope for this (and great patience and mosquito repellent.

The reason there is a gap between images at 17:29 and18:31 is I used my 8" Newtonian to take images of Venus close up. Venus is now just becoming crescent shaped. In the coming days it will become bigger ad more clearly crescent shaped. Hopefully the weather will be kind to me an let me get some more shots. Below is all the images I have managed between July 9 and August 16.


Venus on July 9 using my 8" Newtonian, ASI224MC and 2x Barlow. Clear half moon shape.	Venus on 1 August using my 8" Newtonian, ASI224MC and 2x Barlow. Clear half moon shape and visibly larger.	Venus on 16 August using my 8" Newtonian, ASI224MC and 2x Barlow. Now approaching crescent phase and a bit larger still.