Starship Asterisk*

Daytime Moon Meets Morning Star

Explanation: Venus now appears as planet Earth's brilliant morning star standing above the eastern horizon before dawn. For most, the silvery celestial beacon rose in a close pairing with an old crescent Moon on February 26. But seen from locations in western Africa before sunrise, the lunar crescent actually occulted or passed in front of Venus, also in a crescent phase. Farther to the east, the occultation occurred during daylight hours. In fact, this telescopic snapshot of the dueling crescents was captured just before the occultation began under an afternoon's crystal clear skies from Yunnan Province, China. The unforgettable scene was easily visible to the naked eye in broad daylight.

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I always like astronomical images of events, however simple they may be to capture. So many great scenes are available to those at the right point in spacetime.

This image just reminded me -- indirectly -- that the basic premise of the 1978 Boney M song Nightflight to Venus is somewhat non-sensical. Yet I continue to enjoy the song.

There's just no accounting for taste.

APOD Robot wrote: ...captured just before the occultation began under an afternoon's crystal clear skies from Yunnan Province, China. The unforgettable scene was easily visible to the naked eye in broad daylight.

I am so surprised to discover that this was visible in the afternoon sky, when the sun - obviously - was fully up. And nearby, by definition, with a waning crescent Moon. I had already admired the photos taken in India's morning skies, but assumed that the sight would be invisible wherever the Sun was higher.

Utterly fascinating.
Margarita

Is the surface brightness of Venus always brighter than the Moon's?

The albedo of Venus is six times as much as the albedo of the Moon; and Venus receives twice as much sunlight as the Moon; and, in the picture, the phase of the Moon is a little more advanced than the phase of Venus. As a result of all this, the difference in surface brightness between the two is truly striking.

MargaritaMc wrote:

APOD Robot wrote: ...captured just before the occultation began under an afternoon's crystal clear skies from Yunnan Province, China. The unforgettable scene was easily visible to the naked eye in broad daylight.

I am so surprised to discover that this was visible in the afternoon sky, when the sun - obviously - was fully up. And nearby, by definition, with a waning crescent Moon. I had already admired the photos taken in India's morning skies, but assumed that the sight would be invisible wherever the Sun was higher.

Utterly fascinating.
Margarita

I have numerous pictures of showing the daytime Venus though none as strikingly beautiful. One day, at about 11am, I went out to find Venus in the sky. I located my marker point on an adjacent building and looked up from there. Sure enough, there was this little bright point of light, a hot pixel in an otherwise azure blue sky, but I found it was moving. It wasn't Venus I had viewed but rather the ISS on an overhead traverse.

MadMan wrote:Is the surface brightness of Venus always brighter than the Moon's?

Certainly not when Venus is in inferior conjunction, with its Earth-facing side completely unilluminated. But aside from the brief period when it passes in front of the Sun -- and without doing the sums for all phases and angular sizes and apparent magnitudes -- I suspect Venus does have a surface brightness of greater magnitude (per square arc second).

In ancient times wasnt the occultation of the morning star a sign tha a king was born? Maybe I should start working on my groveling

MargaritaMc wrote:I am so surprised to discover that this was visible in the afternoon sky, when the sun - obviously - was fully up.

Venus is an easy naked eye object at any time of the day. The tricky bit is finding it, and focusing on it. For people who don't practice a lot (I always look for Venus when I'm outside in the day), the easiest way to see it is when it's within a few degrees of the Moon, which allows the Moon to serve as both a pointer and a focusing aid.

I've seen Venus, Jupiter, and Sirius with my unaided eyes in the middle of the day. With binoculars, I can add Saturn and Mars to that list. With a telescope, dozens of stars.

Very lovely photo!

Upon seeing the profile, This came to mind

Chris Peterson wrote:

MargaritaMc wrote:I am so surprised to discover that this was visible in the afternoon sky, when the sun - obviously - was fully up.

Venus is an easy naked eye object at any time of the day. The tricky bit is finding it, and focusing on it. For people who don't practice a lot (I always look for Venus when I'm outside in the day), the easiest way to see it is when it's within a few degrees of the Moon, which allows the Moon to serve as both a pointer and a focusing aid.

I've seen Venus, Jupiter, and Sirius with my unaided eyes in the middle of the day. With binoculars, I can add Saturn and Mars to that list. With a telescope, dozens of stars.

I've been able to see Venus without optical aid during daylight, although I try to stand in the shade of a building. It helps to have a period of very clear weather, so I can find landmarks that point to about where she is in the sky at a given time, and focus my search on that area again the next day. I've seen Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn through binoculars, and first magnitude stars through a telescope.

Up in the mountains you have the advantage of having less atmosphere to look through than those of us who live closer to sea level. But I don't need a pressure cooker to make a cup of tea.

By the way, this is a lovely image!

Chris Peterson wrote:I've seen Venus, Jupiter, and Sirius with my unaided eyes in the middle of the day. With binoculars, I can add Saturn and Mars to that list.

You should have a wonderful moment, 20 months from now, when Venus, Jupiter and Mars will be very close together, in the daytime.

Case wrote:You should have a wonderful moment, 20 months from now, when Venus, Jupiter and Mars will be very close together, in the daytime.

Should be fun to try for, especially as we usually have very clear skies at that time of year. But the conjunction will probably be more striking in the hours before dawn, without competition from the Sun.

Today's APOD is just stunning.

It's an excellent photograph.

Congratulations also to Robert Nemiroff & Jerry Bonnell (the APOD authors and editors) for using a photo taken on February 26 2014 as the APOD of February 27 2014. I suspect it must have taken them a sudden change to what may have been planned as the APOD. I know the Chinese local time is many hours ahead of all mainland United States time zones but it was all still pretty nifty of them.