Expert: Tom Whiting - 2/24/2009

Question
Mr. Whiting,

I am currently living in Shenzen, PRC, and for the past two nights I have
noticed an extremely bright object from my bedroom window. I am sure it is
a planet, but I would like to be able to tell the neighborhood children which
planet it is. I would estimate it at 20 to 25 degrees above the horizon in the
western sky. Magnitude, like the moon, but smaller.
Xiexie,
Gregory
ps. we had a pretty good view of Orion the Hunter last night, and the kids got
a big kick out of viewing it.  : )

Answer
Hi Greg,
Yes, that's the planet Venus, brightest 'starlike' object in
our night sky.  The 3 day old crescent moon will be close to
it this coming weekend for a pretty sight.  Venus has been in
our SW and Western sky since the beginning of the year.  Now it
is currently diving toward the sun as it goes between the sun
and the Earth, so we will lose it in the glare of sunset around
mid-March, only to start picking it up again in the early morning Eastern sky just before sunrise in mid-April.

It is at it's maximum brilliance right now, (Magunitude -4.6) with about 35% illumination (Yes, a small telescope will show a crescent phase now as Venus, like Mercury, goes through phase changes just like our own moon, being inside our orbit).  {This is how Galileo
in 1610 realized that at least Venus had to orbit the sun, and
not the "stationary central non-moving Earth" because it goes thru
phase changes just like the moon, therefore Venus CAN'T orbit the
Earth, and if Venus orbits the sun, why not the Earth too?
While this was not direct proof, it was a 'nail in the coffin' of
a central, stationary, non-moving Earth as humans had belived for
over 2000 years, due to a literal interpretation...or should we
say mis-interpretation?... of the Christian Bible.}

Over the next month, (most of March 2009) the crescent shape becomes less illuminated but grows larger in length (thru a scope) as Venus gets closer to the Earth.  Then the reverse occurs in the Eastern morning sky, the crescent grows in illumination percent, but shrinks down in size, reaching it's maximum brightness again (about 35% illumination) in the early morning eastern sky on or about May 2nd, rising right about the crack of dawn.  Then Venus spends the rest of the year as an early morning eastern sky object.
Hope this helps,
Clear Skies,
Tom Whiting
Erie, PA