Moon over Venus

Venus is looking beautiful this morning right under the crescent moon.

Sometimes I wonder, when Venus is looking so big, could any person
have excellent enough eyesight to see the phase of Venus with the
naked eye? It appears so obvious when looking through a telescope.
When I look at it, the aberration in my eyes seems just a little too
much to focus in that finely.

But you hear about people with better than 20-20 vision who claim they
can, of instance, read the label on a baseball when it is being
pitched to them.

Tiger Wood's eyesight has been surgically improved to better than
20-20. It's part of his edge.

Could someone like that possible be able to make out the phases of
Venus without a telescope? Or is it just a little beyond what is
humanly possible?

Double-A

Double-A wrote:

Venus is looking beautiful this morning right under the crescent moon.

Sometimes I wonder, when Venus is looking so big, could any person
have excellent enough eyesight to see the phase of Venus with the
naked eye?

I don't think so. A few calculations (of which I am too lazy to do now)
would show the truth, but I think the answer is no.

Venus appears 'big' because it is so bright and the human eye associates
'brighter' with 'nearer' and thus 'bigger' (That is: IMHO, I can't proof it)

--
Karl Heinz Buchegger

In message , Karl Heinz Buchegger
writes
Double-A wrote:

Venus is looking beautiful this morning right under the crescent moon.

Sometimes I wonder, when Venus is looking so big, could any person
have excellent enough eyesight to see the phase of Venus with the
naked eye?

I don't think so. A few calculations (of which I am too lazy to do now)
would show the truth, but I think the answer is no.

Venus appears 'big' because it is so bright and the human eye associates
'brighter' with 'nearer' and thus 'bigger' (That is: IMHO, I can't proof it)


Well, the resolving power of the eye is apparently 30 seconds of arc
http://www.atpo.org/Shukla%201.pdf so it's certainly possible.
In fact, I'm fairly sure there are convincing examples where it's been
done, though I can't find any right now. ISTR Patrick Moore did an
experiment asking the public if they could see it, and got some good
replies (one person was puzzled because the reverse of what a telescope
showed, IIRC)
I suspect that it takes superb eyesight, and just enough contrast with
the sky so you aren't dazzled.
--
What have they got to hide? Release the full Beagle 2 report.
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

Double-A wrote
Venus is looking beautiful this morning right under the crescent moon.

Sometimes I wonder, when Venus is looking so big, could any person
have excellent enough eyesight to see the phase of Venus with the
naked eye? It appears so obvious when looking through a telescope.
When I look at it, the aberration in my eyes seems just a little too
much to focus in that finely.

But you hear about people with better than 20-20 vision who claim they
can, of instance, read the label on a baseball when it is being
pitched to them.

Tiger Wood's eyesight has been surgically improved to better than
20-20. It's part of his edge.

Could someone like that possible be able to make out the phases of
Venus without a telescope? Or is it just a little beyond what is
humanly possible?

Double-A

My defective eyeballs can see Venus phases. What niggles me is that my
children can estimate the phase to good accuracy with just a glance!

Denis
--
DT
Replace nospam with the antithesis of hills

DT wrote in message ...
Double-A wrote
Venus is looking beautiful this morning right under the crescent moon.

Sometimes I wonder, when Venus is looking so big, could any person
have excellent enough eyesight to see the phase of Venus with the
naked eye? It appears so obvious when looking through a telescope.
When I look at it, the aberration in my eyes seems just a little too
much to focus in that finely.

But you hear about people with better than 20-20 vision who claim they
can, of instance, read the label on a baseball when it is being
pitched to them.

Tiger Wood's eyesight has been surgically improved to better than
20-20. It's part of his edge.

Could someone like that possible be able to make out the phases of
Venus without a telescope? Or is it just a little beyond what is
humanly possible?

Double-A

My defective eyeballs can see Venus phases. What niggles me is that my
children can estimate the phase to good accuracy with just a glance!

Denis


If you think you are seeing a crescent Venus, then turn your head
sideways and look again. If you can still see the crescent with the
same orientation as before, then you are really seeing it. But if the
crescent turns with your head, then it's just your astigmatism kicking
it.

Double-A

Double-A wrote
If you think you are seeing a crescent Venus, then turn your head
sideways and look again. If you can still see the crescent with the
same orientation as before, then you are really seeing it. But if the
crescent turns with your head, then it's just your astigmatism kicking
it.

Double-A

Good point, I've tried all sorts of tricks over the years to pick out
objects at the limit of my vision. The bonus here (Wales) is that I have
_very_ dark skies (when it's not raining!)

Denis
--
DT
Replace nospam with the antithesis of hills

"Double-A" wrote in message
om...
Venus is looking beautiful this morning right under the crescent moon.

Sometimes I wonder, when Venus is looking so big, could any person
have excellent enough eyesight to see the phase of Venus with the
naked eye? It appears so obvious when looking through a telescope.
When I look at it, the aberration in my eyes seems just a little too
much to focus in that finely.

But you hear about people with better than 20-20 vision who claim they
can, of instance, read the label on a baseball when it is being
pitched to them.

Tiger Wood's eyesight has been surgically improved to better than
20-20. It's part of his edge.

Could someone like that possible be able to make out the phases of
Venus without a telescope? Or is it just a little beyond what is
humanly possible?

My vision has been improved to 20-10 and 20-15. I can't read no stinkin'
baseballs.

BV.