At the time this image was taken, Venus was approaching inferior conjunction. Each evening, Venus dropped lower in the western twilight sky on its way to a March 27 inferior conjunction with the Sun. Because Venus moves between the earth and the Sun, we saw it as a thin crescent as it closed in on inferior conjunction.
Venus travels in an almost perfect circle around the Sun. Venus goes around the Sun 13 times for every 8 earth years. As seen from our planet, Venus appears to make five circuits around the sky every eight years. In 2009, Venus passed 8.16 degrees above the Sun at inferior conjunction on March 27, the largest separation since 1910. This inferior conjunction presented the unusual opportunity to see Venus in the evening sky one day, and in the morning sky the following morning.
This image was taken with a Takahashi FS-128 refractor using a 4x PowerMate and ToUCam webcam.
RA: 00h 38m 42s Dec: +12d 56' 42"
March 14, 2009
Image by Sid Leach
Scottsdale, Arizona
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