Stargazing with Ted

My friend Ted in Kauai is an ardent student of the night sky. He sent me these posts this week.

This is the view of Venus as seen from Salt Pond, Kauai at it's greatest elongation...

A Venus Watching Guide from EarthSky.org website:

Bottom line: Venus – the third brightest celestial object after the sun and moon – is now reaching a milestone as the evening "star," adorning the western twilight and evening sky after sunset. Watch the dazzling planet Venus on the evening of November 1, 2013, as it reaches its greatest elongation from the sun. In other words, it is at it's farthest distance from the Sun, now.

Five weeks after Venus’ greatest evening elongation, this planet will stage its greatest brilliancy as the evening "star."  Dec. 08, 2013.

At this juncture, Venus’ disk will be about 25% illuminated in sunshine and 75% covered over in planet’s own shadow. Then five weeks after displaying its greatest brilliancy (or ten weeks after reaching its greatest evening elongation), Venus will swing between the Earth and sun.

Now you will have something to reflect on after watching a beautiful sunset, then seeing a beautiful planet change it luminosity and peak in 5 weeks. 

Happy Observing!

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Late afternoon sun was low enough to frame with the top of an Ironwood tree to add to the sunspot on the left side of the orange orb.

Post sunset, Venus appears with the new Moon and ready to set into the horizon. Still lots of colors in the sky mixed with the distant clouds for a great contrast and mood.

Moving down the coast, as Venus and Moon lowered into the horizon, they both cast their own glowing reflection on the ocean before the Moon is obscured by the clouds and is barely visible. All those beautiful stars and the Milky Way rotate with them for an ever changing view of our solar system.

Have a great midweek!

Aloha,
TED