Look to the western horizon Monday shortly after sunset for the slender crescent moon pointing the way to brilliant Venus. The two objects will appear relatively close together in the sky, although they are actually separated by millions of miles in space. The moon is about 240,000 miles from Earth, while Venus is tens of millions of miles away.
The two objects will appear relatively close together in the sky, although they are actually separated by millions of miles in space. The moon is about 240,000 miles from Earth, while Venus is tens of millions of miles away.
Other WRAL Top Stories
The separation between the Moon and Venus will continue to grow, but Venus itself will become even more brilliant as it approaches its greatest brightness on Friday, Sept. 18, when it is expected to shine at about magnitude -4.8. On the astronomical magnitude scale, lower numbers indicate brighter objects. For comparison, the full Moon reaches about magnitude -12.7, while the Sun shines at approximately -26.7. The scale is logarithmic, each one-magnitude decrease means an increase in brightness of about 2.5 times.
On the astronomical brightness scale, lower numbers indicate brighter objects. For comparison the full moon has a magnitude of −12.7 and the Sun shines at −26.7. The magnitude scale is logarithmic, so each step represents a brightening of more than 2.5 times.
The best opportunity to see the moon and Venus on Monday will come soon after sunset, when both objects are relatively low in the western sky. In Raleigh, sunset is around 7:23 p.m., so skywatchers should begin looking toward the west not long afterward. A location with a clear, unobstructed western horizon is best as Venus and the moon sink toward the horizon.
Venus’ brightness this week is the result of a combination of its distance from Earth and the amount of sunlight reflected the highly reflective clouds covering the planet.
The planet will look like a brilliant point of light to the unaided eye, but a telescope or binoculars reveals something quite different. Like any planet (or moon) between us and the Sun, Venus has phases too. It's currently a crescent as well, about 25% illuminated. Venus is only fully illuminated from our perspective on Earth when behind the Sun.
While you are outside look to the right of Venus for the bright star Spica, and to the left for the faintly red star Antares in the constellation Scorpius, also known as the "heart of the scorpion."