Astronomy/Morning star

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Expert: - 4/24/2009


Question
I come to work early around 5 am.  The past few days I have seen an extremely bright star or planet in the east, and was curious to discover what that might be.  Thank you.

Answer
Hi Kip,
That's Venus, brightest starlike object in our night sky. The
same planet that we were viewing in the early evening western
sky most of the winter, until it sank in the west to cross between
Earth and sun, and is now in the eastern early morning sky.
Conjunction was March 27th (the 'crossover' point).
Right now that little red dot of a star directly under Venus is
Mars. Jupiter is the less brighter object in the SE as Venus rises,
about 1/2 the brightness of Venus, but still quite bright.
So we have 3 of the 5 naked eye planets in the morning eastern sky
right now.

Venus will continue to rise earlier as it climbs up into our
morning sky, reaching a maximum brilliance right now, April 23rd.
Of course the future diminshment of brightness is hardly noticeable
as the mornings go by.  
Venus will remain in our eastern morning sky for the rest of the
year, reaching a maximum height above the horizon in July as it rises as early as around 3:30 am local daylight time. In the autumn
it will rise later and later as it goes out ahead of us, around
the back side of the sun in late December, becoming invisible until
it emerges back into our early evening western sky in spring of
2010.  And that's how it works, as Venus orbits the sun once every
225 days.
Hope this helps,
Clear Skies,
Tom Whiting
Erie, PA

Astronomy

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Tom Whiting

Expertise

Astronomy has been my hobby/pasttime for over 50 years.  Currently own 3 telescopes, the largest of which is a 30 inch Newtonian truss Dob that is portable.I taught Astronomy/Meteorology at the University Level for 13 years before retiring in 1995. Being retired and home most of the time, I am able to answer all questions relatively quickly, unless it's a new moon weekend with good observing conditions.  No astrology questions please, or questions about alleged UFO picture identifications.

Experience

Experience: Astronomy has been my hobby and study for over 50 years. We currently now own a 30 inch portable telescope (Updated - Pennsylvania`s largest portable telescope). It can be seen on our website at:http://www.velocity.net/~bwhiting and also attend several regional starparties during the year, and have been on 5 total solar eclipse expeditions.

Organizations: President, Erie County Mobile Observers Group for over 15 years.

Publications: Wrote the "Over Erie Skies" newspaper article in our local newspaper for 11 years (1975-86).

Education: Masters Degree- Taught at the University level for 13 years. Retired 20 years -USAF Pilot - KC-135 with 180 combat missions;  Also Eagle Scout, Philmont staff 2 Yrs, Order of Arrow Lodge Chief, Ham Radio (inactive).

Awards: two discoveries: The mini-coathanger asterism in Ursa Minor (the little dipper) And the mini-ladle- another asterism in the bowl of Ursa Minor. Clients: Currently President of the ECMOG as mentioned above.

Education/Credentials
BS  Metallurgical Engineering Grove City College, PAMaster's Degree, Gannon University, Erie, PA Also retired USAF pilot, 20 years.

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