Venus (July 1st)

Hello, all!

I'm sorry to ask what must seem like an incredibly stupid question, but I
very rarely ever get to use my telescope and therefore have little
proficiency and less knowledge.

I am just east of Phoenix, Arizona. This morning at 4:00 AM I looked out my
door and saw what I assumed to be Venus in the east-northeast (since
confirmed on various space websites). It was absolutely brilliant and I
immediately threw on some clothes and grabbed the telescope. Imagine my
surprise when I put eye to lens and saw what appeared to be a perfect
eclipse in progress; Venus was just a shimmering crescent. I know that
Venus has no moons. The only pictures I can find of Venus are satellite
photos and none of them look anything like what I saw. I can find no
information on why it should have looked like that. Does it normally look
like that? I know that I have seen Venus before (many years ago), but I do
not remember it looking like a crescent. Is there an explanation?

Thank you very much and, again, please overlook my abject ignorance.

Mara

"Roger Hamlett" wrote in message
news:_0XEc.2205$K%2.625@newsfe2-win...
Venus is lit by the Sun. The only time it will be completely 'full', is
when
it is immediately on the opposite side of the Sun to us (and then very
difficult to see...). When it is between us and the Sun, you get a
'transit', which happened only a few weeks ago. At the moment it is not
far
from the Sun, and showing quite a narrow crescent, making this much more
obvious than is often the case.

I find it quite difficult (and frankly shocking, seeing how very few people
understand the basics of geometry behind all this) to understand that so
much people have such a hard time grasping the concept of phases. If they
see a crescent they immediately suspect there's an eclipse in progress. For
goodness sakes, that would imply the Moon was being eclipsed almost all the
time. Why would then the REAL lunar eclipses ever be something worth
watching?
Is it really THAT hard to imagine what a half-illuminated sphere would look
like from different angles?
Or, are most people just plain... well, dumb (not to be meant as an insult)?

--
The butler did it.

"Roger Hamlett" wrote in message
news:_0XEc.2205$K%2.625@newsfe2-win...
Venus is lit by the Sun. The only time it will be completely 'full', is
when
it is immediately on the opposite side of the Sun to us (and then very
difficult to see...). When it is between us and the Sun, you get a
'transit', which happened only a few weeks ago. At the moment it is not
far
from the Sun, and showing quite a narrow crescent, making this much more
obvious than is often the case.

I find it quite difficult (and frankly shocking, seeing how very few people
understand the basics of geometry behind all this) to understand that so
much people have such a hard time grasping the concept of phases. If they
see a crescent they immediately suspect there's an eclipse in progress. For
goodness sakes, that would imply the Moon was being eclipsed almost all the
time. Why would then the REAL lunar eclipses ever be something worth
watching?
Is it really THAT hard to imagine what a half-illuminated sphere would look
like from different angles?
Or, are most people just plain... well, dumb (not to be meant as an insult)?

--
The butler did it.

"LongCoolWoman" wrote in message
...
Hello, all!

I'm sorry to ask what must seem like an incredibly stupid question, but I
very rarely ever get to use my telescope and therefore have little
proficiency and less knowledge.

I am just east of Phoenix, Arizona. This morning at 4:00 AM I looked out
my
door and saw what I assumed to be Venus in the east-northeast (since
confirmed on various space websites). It was absolutely brilliant and I
immediately threw on some clothes and grabbed the telescope. Imagine my
surprise when I put eye to lens and saw what appeared to be a perfect
eclipse in progress; Venus was just a shimmering crescent. I know that
Venus has no moons. The only pictures I can find of Venus are satellite
photos and none of them look anything like what I saw. I can find no
information on why it should have looked like that. Does it normally look
like that? I know that I have seen Venus before (many years ago), but I
do
not remember it looking like a crescent. Is there an explanation?

Thank you very much and, again, please overlook my abject ignorance.

Mara
Venus is lit by the Sun. The only time it will be completely 'full', is when
it is immediately on the opposite side of the Sun to us (and then very
difficult to see...). When it is between us and the Sun, you get a
'transit', which happened only a few weeks ago. At the moment it is not far
from the Sun, and showing quite a narrow crescent, making this much more
obvious than is often the case. Look at:
http://www.julianbaum.co.uk/BAA_MV/MVVenus.html

Best Wishes

"LongCoolWoman" wrote in message
...
Hello, all!

I'm sorry to ask what must seem like an incredibly stupid question, but I
very rarely ever get to use my telescope and therefore have little
proficiency and less knowledge.

I am just east of Phoenix, Arizona. This morning at 4:00 AM I looked out
my
door and saw what I assumed to be Venus in the east-northeast (since
confirmed on various space websites). It was absolutely brilliant and I
immediately threw on some clothes and grabbed the telescope. Imagine my
surprise when I put eye to lens and saw what appeared to be a perfect
eclipse in progress; Venus was just a shimmering crescent. I know that
Venus has no moons. The only pictures I can find of Venus are satellite
photos and none of them look anything like what I saw. I can find no
information on why it should have looked like that. Does it normally look
like that? I know that I have seen Venus before (many years ago), but I
do
not remember it looking like a crescent. Is there an explanation?

Thank you very much and, again, please overlook my abject ignorance.

Mara
Venus is lit by the Sun. The only time it will be completely 'full', is when
it is immediately on the opposite side of the Sun to us (and then very
difficult to see...). When it is between us and the Sun, you get a
'transit', which happened only a few weeks ago. At the moment it is not far
from the Sun, and showing quite a narrow crescent, making this much more
obvious than is often the case. Look at:
http://www.julianbaum.co.uk/BAA_MV/MVVenus.html

Best Wishes

"ugo" wrote in message
...
snip
Or, are most people just plain... well, dumb (not to be meant as an
insult)?
snip

I had a teacher in college that used to say, "Nothing is obvious until it
pointed out to you."

BV.

"ugo" wrote in message
...
snip
Or, are most people just plain... well, dumb (not to be meant as an
insult)?
snip

I had a teacher in college that used to say, "Nothing is obvious until it
pointed out to you."

BV.

"ugo" wrote in message
...

I find it quite difficult (and frankly shocking, seeing how very few
people
understand the basics of geometry behind all this) to understand that so
much people have such a hard time grasping the concept of phases.

Well, I don't think it's that people have a hard time grasping the concept
of phases... it's just not the first thing they think of when confronted
with the sight.

If they see a crescent they immediately suspect there's an eclipse in
progress. For
goodness sakes, that would imply the Moon was being eclipsed almost all
the
time. Why would then the REAL lunar eclipses ever be something worth
watching?

Excellent point, and I've got to assume you get people in here all the time
with the same query. Must drive you right 'round the bend with frustration.

Is it really THAT hard to imagine what a half-illuminated sphere would
look
like from different angles?
Or, are most people just plain... well, dumb (not to be meant as an
insult)?

Well... I wouldn't go so far as to say dumb (though goodness knows I've been
dumb more times than I can count). But I will admit that as soon as the
phases of Venus were pointed out to me, I pretty much slapped my forehead
and went, "you flaming idiot!". Okay, yeah, dumb.

Mara

"ugo" wrote in message
...

I find it quite difficult (and frankly shocking, seeing how very few
people
understand the basics of geometry behind all this) to understand that so
much people have such a hard time grasping the concept of phases.

Well, I don't think it's that people have a hard time grasping the concept
of phases... it's just not the first thing they think of when confronted
with the sight.

If they see a crescent they immediately suspect there's an eclipse in
progress. For
goodness sakes, that would imply the Moon was being eclipsed almost all
the
time. Why would then the REAL lunar eclipses ever be something worth
watching?

Excellent point, and I've got to assume you get people in here all the time
with the same query. Must drive you right 'round the bend with frustration.

Is it really THAT hard to imagine what a half-illuminated sphere would
look
like from different angles?
Or, are most people just plain... well, dumb (not to be meant as an
insult)?

Well... I wouldn't go so far as to say dumb (though goodness knows I've been
dumb more times than I can count). But I will admit that as soon as the
phases of Venus were pointed out to me, I pretty much slapped my forehead
and went, "you flaming idiot!". Okay, yeah, dumb.

Mara

"Benign Vanilla" wrote in message
...

"ugo" wrote in message
...
snip
Or, are most people just plain... well, dumb (not to be meant as an
insult)?
snip

I had a teacher in college that used to say, "Nothing is obvious until it
pointed out to you."

Well, that might as well be true, but shouldn't things like these have been
"pointed out" back in elementary school?
It's not like it's hard to explain why Moon has phases...

--
The butler did it.