Venus, Mars, the Moon and the weather

Mike Collins wrote:
A beautiful day today with not a cloud in the sky. This allowed a perfect
naked eye view of Mars and Venus 40 minutes after sunset. Unfortunately the
forecast for the next two days is cloud and heavy rain so I will probably
miss Mars, Venus and the Moon on the 20th.

After a day of 8/8 cloud the sky stated to clear and the crescent Moon and
Venus were visible through thin cloud at 17:00 GMT. Mars was not visible to
the naked eye but easily seen using 10 x 50s.
The crescent was a creamy yellow and the old Moon was clearly visible in
the new Moon's arms. This should be much more spectacular after sunset from
the U.S. Since the Moon will appear nearer to the two planets.

On Friday, 20 February 2015 21:45:32 UTC+1, Mike Collins wrote:
Mike Collins wrote:
A beautiful day today with not a cloud in the sky. This allowed a perfect
naked eye view of Mars and Venus 40 minutes after sunset. Unfortunately the
forecast for the next two days is cloud and heavy rain so I will probably
miss Mars, Venus and the Moon on the 20th.

After a day of 8/8 cloud the sky stated to clear and the crescent Moon and
Venus were visible through thin cloud at 17:00 GMT. Mars was not visible to
the naked eye but easily seen using 10 x 50s.
The crescent was a creamy yellow and the old Moon was clearly visible in
the new Moon's arms. This should be much more spectacular after sunset from
the U.S. Since the Moon will appear nearer to the two planets.

There was a clearing at dusk after a day of wet and windy weather with a very heavy overcast. By the time I had fetched my binoculars [taking only seconds] the sky had become strangely misty. Venus had already developed a bright halo as it shone through the mist. The moon should have been spectacular but was just a thin, featureless crescent. Then it rapidly clouded over again. Am I having fun yet?

On Fri, 20 Feb 2015 20:44:50 +0000, Mike Collins wrote:

Mike Collins wrote:
A beautiful day today with not a cloud in the sky. This allowed a
perfect naked eye view of Mars and Venus 40 minutes after sunset.
Unfortunately the forecast for the next two days is cloud and heavy
rain so I will probably miss Mars, Venus and the Moon on the 20th.

After a day of 8/8 cloud the sky stated to clear and the crescent Moon
and Venus were visible through thin cloud at 17:00 GMT. Mars was not
visible to the naked eye but easily seen using 10 x 50s.
The crescent was a creamy yellow and the old Moon was clearly visible in
the new Moon's arms. This should be much more spectacular after sunset
from the U.S. Since the Moon will appear nearer to the two planets.

We had a beautiful view of Moon, Mars, Venus on the 20th. Not a cloud in
the sky and warm for this time of year as well. Just after sunset it was
spectacular at Lat: 38.1°N Lon: 122.23°W.

Mars was noticeably red in contrast to the other bodies. I don't know
it's apparent diameter at the moment, and difficult to guess its
magnitude owing to the brightness of the sky. Is it leaving solar
conjunction?

Etok

On Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 7:50:00 AM UTC, Etok wrote:
On Fri, 20 Feb 2015 20:44:50 +0000, Mike Collins wrote:

Mike Collins wrote:
A beautiful day today with not a cloud in the sky. This allowed a
perfect naked eye view of Mars and Venus 40 minutes after sunset.
Unfortunately the forecast for the next two days is cloud and heavy
rain so I will probably miss Mars, Venus and the Moon on the 20th.

After a day of 8/8 cloud the sky stated to clear and the crescent Moon
and Venus were visible through thin cloud at 17:00 GMT. Mars was not
visible to the naked eye but easily seen using 10 x 50s.
The crescent was a creamy yellow and the old Moon was clearly visible in
the new Moon's arms. This should be much more spectacular after sunset
from the U.S. Since the Moon will appear nearer to the two planets.

We had a beautiful view of Moon, Mars, Venus on the 20th. Not a cloud in
the sky and warm for this time of year as well. Just after sunset it was
spectacular at Lat: 38.1°N Lon: 122.23°W.

Mars was noticeably red in contrast to the other bodies. I don't know
it's apparent diameter at the moment, and difficult to guess its
magnitude owing to the brightness of the sky. Is it leaving solar
conjunction?

Etok

Normally I would leave stargazers to their own devices,after all, you and they make no apologies for your hobby of identifying objects using magnification or not and as far as I am concerned it is a fine pursuit. Unfortunately for everyone else you think it Is astronomy and leave everything else to the theorists.

You live near the Sacramento area because you use the Lat/Long system to describe your location with this system built around timekeeping and the geometry of the Earth. It represents the conversion of the average 24 hour day into constant rotation at a rate of 4 minutes for each degree of geographical separation and is one of the greatest human achievements in connecting the planet's daily motion with human timekeeping.

Stargazers have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by not obstructing the meaningful endeavor which puts planets in relation to the moving Earth and to the Sun rather than just spotting them within a celestial sphere framework..