Right now as I write this, Venus is a brilliant beacon of light in the western sky after sunset. After the Moon, it’s far and away the brightest object in the night sky, obvious to anyone who can see. It’s also the International Year of Astronomy, so a group of people has decided to merge the two events into one called Beauty Without Borders. Starting February 25 (today!) and going through March 1, they want everyone who can to go outside and observe this gorgeous planet. February 28 is the best day, as the crescent Moon will be near Venus, making a beautiful duet in the sky.
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I think this is a great idea. Venus is so bright right now that I’ve received lots of comments on it, from asking me what it is to to people who can’t believe a planet can get so bright! So this is a fantastic opportunity to get people outside and looking up. Tell everyone you know!
February 25th, 2009 at 7:43 am
I’m lucky. The entrance to the building where I work faces almost directly West so I get treated to a grandstand view every evening. Some of my co-workers know I have some knowledge about the night sky so occasionally they ask me what the bright star is.
I try not to make them late for dinner.
February 25th, 2009 at 7:49 am
This reminds me of a strange experience I once had years ago. I was sleeping one night and was having some horrific nightmares with a “Night of the Living Dead” theme. It was only when I woke up that I realized that the planet Venus was clearly visible from my bedroom window which I was facing directly because of how my bed was placed. If you’ve seen the movie, you remember the Venus connection. Astronomy and psychology can blend in the most unexpected ways.
February 25th, 2009 at 7:51 am
You may want to note in your post that the photo is not reflective of the current view, but is from the Moon-Jupiter-Venus event from a while ago.
February 25th, 2009 at 7:54 am
The crescent Moon will be only a couple of degrees from Venus on Friday making it an excellent time to see Venus during the day. I did it in January and was seeing Venus around 1pm. I will blog it with finder charts and directions!
February 25th, 2009 at 7:59 am
And, of you can get your hands on a small telescope, Venus is really stunning there since it’s in a crescent phase.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Now that my neighbors cut down the tree that blocked most of my view of the southern sky, it may just be time to get the telescope out of the attic again.
And what’s that string of blue dots in the lower-right of the picture? It looks like a trail left behind by something blinking.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:26 am
That’s fantastic. I always gaze up at the sky if I’m out at night; this week I know what to look for.
Thanks for the heads up.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Ken B:
My guess is that it’s an insect. The “blinking” is probably caused by the insect’s wings flapping.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Actually on second thoughts, it might just be a string of blue lights in the tree… lol
February 25th, 2009 at 8:53 am
In the Western Hemisphere, the “best” night to see the Moon and Venus closest together will be the 27th, not 28th! (I’ve written copy citing the wrong day for eclipses due to UT/ET mixups waaaaaaay too many times).
February 25th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Hey, Phil! Just found your site – I am not a computer whiz so my Internet experiences are mostly discoveries. Now that I’ve found out how to keep track of sites I like, I can even return to your site now and then. Love the idea of Beauty Without Borders – it makes the sky more accessible to all of us who look up more than we look down. Daughter Lora was given a telescope for her birthday by her nice husband last year and is enjoying it. Don’t ask me what kind: it’s black and about the size of a golf bag. The local Sidewalk Astronomers in Monrovia help her set it up now and then. — Bjo
February 25th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Saw it an hour ago coming home from work. Sky was still light. Had a good view of Venus in the evening for the past 6 weeks or so, as long as it wasn’t cloudy. Bright light! Bright light!
February 25th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Thanks Phil for posting this. I’m part of the “Beauty Without Borders” project. I would like to invite everyone to join with us. We have about 19 countries participating in this(more still joining up).
I’d like to invite everyone to take there telescopes and binoculars out and catch this magnificent event. If possible please do a sidewalk astronomy session. And if you can plan any program please inform us as well.
If you are interested in BWB please get in touch with me through
Good observing!
Thilina Heenatigala
General Secretary
Sri Lanka Astronomical Association
February 25th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Kia ora all, Yes there are many people globally preparing for IYA and related projects. Sorry about the dates, here in New Zealand (aka Aotearoa) our best time is the 28th at sunset but of course that’s sunset local time for the 27th for most of humanity. However, it’s about venus and it’s exquisite beauty, and thats visible for the whole period. It’s also about a global star-party, and celibrating Astronomers Without Borders and StarPeace, IYA and Sidewalk Astronomy, and while its an unofficial project, it has the personal approval of everyone I’ve spoken to so far. We collectively decided to go for an instant trial of our newly established global network, to prepare for ISAN 2009 the third annual International Sidewalk Astronomy Night on April 4th, and that in turn is testing our capability for the 100HA ‘marathon’ from April 2nd to April 5th. Please contact your local astronomical club for help with telescopes to see this incredible sight, and to participate in the other events, especially 100HA. Have a look at my video of venus setting from down under, you can also hear our native owl, the ruru, or morepork, calling. ka kite ano.. paul moss
http://beautywithoutborders.blogspot.com/2009/02/bwb-venus-promo-video.html
February 25th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Bjo! Wow! Nice to hear from you again (we met years ago at a con, though I don’t recall which one).
Folks, we are in the presence of greatness here: Bjo was The Original Star Trek Fan, and if you like Trek, she’s a big reason it’s still around. Look up her name on Google and you’ll see what I mean.
Welcome, Bjo. Glad you found me here.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:24 am
So our Bad Astronomer is one with a Bad Memory and a Bad Sense of humor too
What initially started as a Iraq-Brazil celestial bridge has now grown into a hugely popular Global Project. In addition to amateur astronomers world wide, it has captured the attention to our younger net savy members in form of an event on youtube, face book and
flickr.
http://www.youtube.com/user/swvenus2009
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=50185104707
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwb-venus2009/
One will need to log into a Facebook account to visit the BWB event page. I expect all Badastronomers world wide to take part in this “bad” global star party.
Clear skies & So long Phil
February 26th, 2009 at 12:35 am
I’ve been enjoying the show muchly. But over in the lands of bad astronomy (and bad every-other-science) the same crowd that usually shows up every solstice with “The Sun is too far North/South!” are all running around in circles, pointing up at Venus, and shouting “The mothership! The mothership!”
February 26th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Phil,
I went outside tonight with my daughter (7 yrs old) and told her to look up and “find” Venus. She did so quickly, and then we located Venus using her basic telescope. We were amazed to see Venus in a crescent phase (just as Nicole said above), just as clear as day. I then moved the telescope a bit to catch the sliver of a moon as the clouds slipped past. My daughter, visibly excited, said, “that is awesomely beautiful!” We probably would not have taken the time to pull out the telescope on a random Thursday night if I had not been reading your blog. “Awesomely beautiful” indeed. Thanks for a great blog.
Michael
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Vancouver got a beautiful view that night… My friends were all texting me wondering what was going on, and I even heard strangers in the street exclaiming how beautiful it was!
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Hey Bjo!
How’s your husband doing? (I’m the guy who interviewed you two for the Sci-Fi museum in Seattle.)