Elongation of Venus

I am noticing that, since the Venus/Jupiter conjunction last week,
Venus is continuing to elongate and is moving each night directly
towards the Pleiades.

My question is: is it possible for the eastern Elongation of Venus
to be such that she is in conjunction with the Pleiades?

(Yeah I know I could calculate this but I figure one of you
guys may already know the answer.)

Steve

On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:00:25 +0000 (UTC),
(Steve Pope) wrote:

I am noticing that, since the Venus/Jupiter conjunction last week,
Venus is continuing to elongate and is moving each night directly
towards the Pleiades.

My question is: is it possible for the eastern Elongation of Venus
to be such that she is in conjunction with the Pleiades?

(Yeah I know I could calculate this but I figure one of you
guys may already know the answer.)

Venus is always within ~47 degrees of the sun. The Pleiades are y
degrees above the ecliptic. Each year the sun will spend
approximately 94 days within 47 degrees of the Pleiades. During that
period, if Venus happens to be y degrees above the ecliptic also, it
should spend a short period of time in front of the Pleiades.

This year, it looks like it will happen around 3 April.

Next year, Venus will be much closer to the ecliptic and pass below
the Pleiades. Closest approach appears to be 9 May 9.

In 2014, Venus will be below the ecliptic. Closest approach appears
to be 23 June

In 2015, Venus will be above the ecliptic but not high enough. Closest
approach appears to be 11 April.

The next conjunction appears to be 3 April 2028 also visible after
sunset.

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Barry Schwarz wrote:

On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:00:25 +0000 (UTC),

Venus is always within ~47 degrees of the sun. The Pleiades are y
degrees above the ecliptic. Each year the sun will spend
approximately 94 days within 47 degrees of the Pleiades. During that
period, if Venus happens to be y degrees above the ecliptic also, it
should spend a short period of time in front of the Pleiades.

This year, it looks like it will happen around 3 April.

Next year, Venus will be much closer to the ecliptic and pass below
the Pleiades. Closest approach appears to be 9 May 9.

In 2014, Venus will be below the ecliptic. Closest approach appears
to be 23 June

In 2015, Venus will be above the ecliptic but not high enough. Closest
approach appears to be 11 April.

The next conjunction appears to be 3 April 2028 also visible after
sunset.

Thanks. This is very useful.


Steve

On 2012-03-20, Steve Pope wrote:

I am noticing that, since the Venus/Jupiter conjunction last week,
Venus is continuing to elongate and is moving each night directly
towards the Pleiades.

My question is: is it possible for the eastern Elongation of Venus
to be such that she is in conjunction with the Pleiades?

Yes. All of the planets go through 360 degrees of ecliptic longitude
and Venus can reach ecliptic latitudes of +/- 4 degrees. The position of
the Pleiades in ecliptic coordinates is roughly 60 degrees longitude and
+4 degrees latitude. Therefore Venus can get among the Pleiades. This
year Venus will be 1/2 degree south of the Pleiades on April 3, 2012.

Bud

On 20/03/2012 2:00 AM, Steve Pope wrote:
I am noticing that, since the Venus/Jupiter conjunction last week,
Venus is continuing to elongate and is moving each night directly
towards the Pleiades.

My question is: is it possible for the eastern Elongation of Venus
to be such that she is in conjunction with the Pleiades?

(Yeah I know I could calculate this but I figure one of you
guys may already know the answer.)

Not directly related to your question, but about a couple of nights ago
(maybe around Mar 20th), I was watching the Venus-Jupiter dance, and I
noticed that Venus was the brightest that I've ever seen it. The next
night it didn't look nearly as bright, nor any of the nights before it
or after it. Venus at the time was high almost directly above Jupiter.
Was this an illusion (like the Moon looking bigger near the horizon), or
was this real?

Yousuf Khan

William Hamblen wrote:

On 2012-03-20, Steve Pope wrote:

I am noticing that, since the Venus/Jupiter conjunction last week,
Venus is continuing to elongate and is moving each night directly
towards the Pleiades.

My question is: is it possible for the eastern Elongation of Venus
to be such that she is in conjunction with the Pleiades?

Yes. All of the planets go through 360 degrees of ecliptic longitude
and Venus can reach ecliptic latitudes of +/- 4 degrees. The position of
the Pleiades in ecliptic coordinates is roughly 60 degrees longitude and
+4 degrees latitude. Therefore Venus can get among the Pleiades. This
year Venus will be 1/2 degree south of the Pleiades on April 3, 2012.

Thanks Bud (and also Barry and Yousuf).

So... on April 3 in the evening sky, Venus will be within 1/2 degree of
the Pleiades, which themselves subtend over 1 degree of arc. The moon
will also be out, having risen about 5 p.m. that day. So between
the moonlight and the shine from Venus itself, it may be hard to see
enough of the Pleiades to make this a very striking conjunction, except
in a very dark clear sky. The Pleiades are about 5 orders of magnitude
dimmer than Venus.

Still, since the cresent of Venus is about one minute of arc, a very
good photographer under ideal conditions might be able to image the
crescent of Venus next to the Pleiades.


Steve

I'd like to thank Barry and William for pointing out the conjunction
of Venus and the Pleiades, which maximized two nights ago but due
to cloudiness I was able to best view last night.

The main issue was the strong moonlight, but I was still (in the
hills above my urban Berkeley setting) able to see about 20 members of
the Pleiades, with Venus right next to them, using binoculars.

I can only imagine the conjunction was a fantastic sight for those
with truly dark skies.

Maybe the next such conjunction (in 2023?) will have no moon out --
need to check on that.

And it's still probably worth a look tonight, but Venus continues
to move east and away, relative to the Pleiades.

Steve

On Thu, 5 Apr 2012 13:30:03 +0000 (UTC), (Steve
Pope) wrote:

I'd like to thank Barry and William for pointing out the conjunction
of Venus and the Pleiades, which maximized two nights ago but due
to cloudiness I was able to best view last night.

The main issue was the strong moonlight, but I was still (in the
hills above my urban Berkeley setting) able to see about 20 members of
the Pleiades, with Venus right next to them, using binoculars.

I can only imagine the conjunction was a fantastic sight for those
with truly dark skies.

Maybe the next such conjunction (in 2023?) will have no moon out --
need to check on that.

And it's still probably worth a look tonight, but Venus continues
to move east and away, relative to the Pleiades.

Steve

The moon will be waning gibbous then and set some 10 hours before the
sun. Unfortunately, Venus will be 2 or 3 degrees away from the
Pleiades at closest approach on 11 April.

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