Is this true ?

I was at Bunderburg (central east coast of Queensland, AUS) this week, and I
took my scope up there because the night sky is much clearer. Anyhow, I was
looking at Venis (I assume it was) and was baffeled when I saw it only
2/5ths illuminated, it was like when we see our moon before it becomes a
half moon, it looked as tho there was a much larger object covering one
section of it, the separation wasn't exactly 1/2, it had that arch type
divide to it.

What I can't understand, is what would have been between the sun and venis
on Wednesday night around 7pm ?

I also watched over 5 hours at jupitor and it's moons as they were changing
position. I could see one moon on one side and 3 on the other, after a few
hours the 3 moons were almost looking like one. Just how fast is the 4
larger moons moving ?

What I can't understand, is what would have been between the sun and
venis on Wednesday night around 7pm ?



Nothing. It's because Venus is between the Earth and the Sun. Actually it's
position at the moment is roughly as below:

S




V


E


DaveL

On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 01:22:23 +1000, skozzy wrote:

I was at Bunderburg (central east coast of Queensland, AUS) this week, and I
took my scope up there because the night sky is much clearer. Anyhow, I was
looking at Venis (I assume it was) and was baffeled when I saw it only
2/5ths illuminated, it was like when we see our moon before it becomes a
half moon, it looked as tho there was a much larger object covering one
section of it, the separation wasn't exactly 1/2, it had that arch type
divide to it.

What I can't understand, is what would have been between the sun and venis
on Wednesday night around 7pm ?

Mostly empty space, like any other time. The reason Venus shows phases is
the same reason the moon shows phases.

There's an angle between the straight line joining earth and Venus, and
the straight line joining the sun and Venus.

The only time you'll see the full disc of Venus is when it's on the
opposite side of the sun from earth (obviously not exactly opposite, else
you wouldn't see it at all), just as you only see a full moon when the sun
is on the opposite side of the earth as the moon.

I also watched over 5 hours at jupitor and it's moons as they were changing
position. I could see one moon on one side and 3 on the other, after a few
hours the 3 moons were almost looking like one. Just how fast is the 4
larger moons moving ?

That I don't know off hand. I expect you can find that information online
with a bit of searching.


--
- Mike

Remove 'spambegone.net' and reverse to send e-mail.

Thanks guys.. I don't know why I didn't think of that.. must have been the
rum on the night.


"skozzy" wrote in message
...
I was at Bunderburg (central east coast of Queensland, AUS) this week, and
I
took my scope up there because the night sky is much clearer. Anyhow, I
was
looking at Venis (I assume it was) and was baffeled when I saw it only
2/5ths illuminated, it was like when we see our moon before it becomes a
half moon, it looked as tho there was a much larger object covering one
section of it, the separation wasn't exactly 1/2, it had that arch type
divide to it.

What I can't understand, is what would have been between the sun and venis
on Wednesday night around 7pm ?

I also watched over 5 hours at jupitor and it's moons as they were
changing
position. I could see one moon on one side and 3 on the other, after a few
hours the 3 moons were almost looking like one. Just how fast is the 4
larger moons moving ?

skozzy wrote:

[snip]

I also watched over 5 hours at jupitor and it's moons as they were changing
position. I could see one moon on one side and 3 on the other, after a few
hours the 3 moons were almost looking like one. Just how fast is the 4
larger moons moving ?

The innermost Galilean satellite, Io, takes a little under two days
to complete an orbit around Jupiter, while the outermost, Callisto,
takes a little over two weeks. See

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/galileanfact_table.html

for more details.

--
Odysseus

Thanks for picking this page out for me..

"Odysseus" wrote in message
...
skozzy wrote:

[snip]

I also watched over 5 hours at jupitor and it's moons as they were
changing
position. I could see one moon on one side and 3 on the other, after a
few
hours the 3 moons were almost looking like one. Just how fast is the 4
larger moons moving ?

The innermost Galilean satellite, Io, takes a little under two days
to complete an orbit around Jupiter, while the outermost, Callisto,
takes a little over two weeks. See

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/galileanfact_table.html

for more details.

--
Odysseus