Daytime planet hunting - Moon & Venus March 21st

On the eve of the Spring Equinox, there is a good opportunity tomorrow to try and observe Venus in daylight, using the Moon as a guide. Stellarium is showing me that they are closest (by about 3 lunar diameters, Venus being south of) at around midday. Perhaps someone can give a more accurate reading from some other programme?

Looking out there tonight, the pair (though quite spaced apart now) look great together in the sky right now.

I might give it a go myself. The sun is an appreciable distance away. All one would have to do is stand in the shade of a building away from the sun, and scan the sky below the Moon. I'll see if my 8-24 X 50's can make the cut!


Seanie.

Hi Seanie

For me tomorrow,venus passes due south at 14.52 and is then 50.75 degrees above the horizon. Should be pretty close for you at the same time. At that time the moon is about 3.5 degrees almost due North of venus.

Did you spot the stunning earthshine tonight ?

Hi Seanie

For me tomorrow,venus passes due south at 14.52 and is then 50.75 degrees above the horizon. Should be pretty close for you at the same time. At that time the moon is about 3.5 degrees almost due North of venus.

Did you spot the stunning earthshine tonight ?

Thanks for the update Trevor. Tonight, I did spot the illuminated night side. Not as prominent as on some other occasions, but in the twillight skies around 19:20hrs, it was nice to see! Great to have some long evenings coming back again!

I was putting the wheelie bins out at around 8pm this evening and my jaw hit the ground when I saw the pair - Venus nearly blinding me, with the thin silver crescent moon heading into the stunningly clear and sharp dusk with it's 'dark' side very bright in the Earthshine! Very beautiful. I stayed out until I was numb with the cold... in a T-shirt!

Phil.

Yeah, they both took me by suprise when I saw them too.
Earthshine was visible from Dublin city, but not too prominent.

Well, rain here since about 2pm... so mch for this little endeavour...