DATE:
Friday, April 3TYPE:
ConjunctionTIME:
EveningVIEW:
BinocularsVenus passes
through the Pleiades
he photogenic highlight of the spring takes place as
brilliant Venus passes along the periphery of the famous
Pleiades star cluster.he night to circle is April 3, when the planet shines
among the Seven Sisters. he night before, on April 2,
Venus sits just below the cluster, then moves well above
the cluster by April 4. But even on those “shoulder”
nights, Venus and the Pleiades lie within a low-power
telescope ield.Seeing the scene is easy. Capturing it is not. Venus is
so bright that any exposure long enough to show the
stars will turn the planet into a huge glow, especially
if the sky is hazy. Use at least a 300 mm telephoto lens
or short focal length telescope on an equatorial mount,
tracking the sky, to take a series of exposures from
a few seconds to a minute or more.With skill, it might be possible to blend the exposures
later during image processing, using “high dynamic
range” or masking techniques. Hope for clear skies,
as Venus won’t be back near the Pleiades for another
eight years, until April 3, 2028.DATE:
Tuesday, March 24TYPE:
Greatest elongation of VenusTIME:
EveningVIEW:
Naked eye, binocularsVenus at maximum angle
Venus usually swings about 46 degrees away from the Sun when
visible in the morning or evening. But at a very favourable elon-
gation, such as we have this spring, the steep angle of the ecliptic
also swings Venus up high into our evening sky.
By contrast, at an autumn evening elongation, with the ecliptic
at a shallow angle hugging the horizon, Venus can sit 46 degrees
away from the Sun – but still be low on our horizon and lost in
the murk.
Not this spring! Venus reaches its maximum angle, or “elongation,”
from the Sun on March 24. Four evenings later, as we show here,
the crescent Moon sits a wide eight degrees from Venus. While
this is not a dramatic conjunction, it makes for a pretty sight, with
the Moon-Venus pair shining below the Pleiades star cluster.
However, because the orbital motion of Venus takes it
well above the ecliptic through the spring, we’ll see Venus contin-
ue to climb even higher, reaching a maximum altitude in Canadi-
an skies in mid-April. At that time, southern Canadians will see
Venus so high it won’t set until 1 a.m. local daylight time, which
is unusual for an inner planet. Indeed, from Arctic Canada, the
motion of Venus is circumpolar and the planet will not set at all.
Across Canada, we will see Venus in a darkened sky in mid-April,
when the planet’s blazing -4.5 magnitude will make it look out of
place among its dimmer, stellar companions.