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Credit & Copyright: Eddie Guscott
Explanation:
This remarkable picture of a slender crescent Venus
was made during
daylight hours on March 26.
Venus was then very near
inferior
conjunction, its closest approach
to a point on a line directly
between Earth and the Sun.
So, daylight was a good time to carefully
record the telescopic view when both
Venus
and Sun were high in the daytime sky.
Near inferior conjunction, Venus is closest
to us and at its largest apparent size,
but Venus is also strongly backlit by sunlight, presenting
its night side partially outlined by a narrow crescent.
What makes the image remarkable are the faint arcs extending
beyond the sunlit crescent around to the night side of Venus,
due to sunlight filtering through the planet's
dense atmosphere.
Astronomer Eddie Guscott reports from his site in Essex, England
that the faint extensions came and went as the Earth's atmospheric
blurring
changed.
His image was constructed from 85 of the sharpest frames
chosen from thousands taken with a webcam and telescope.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Venus - conjunction
Publications with words: Venus - conjunction
See also: