dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (03/11/86)
You can see the brightest planet in the west after sunset. More -- after this. March 11 Venus and the Moon The evening star is coming back -- really, the planet Venus, now low in the west after sunset. If it's not already too late, look outside shortly after sunset on Tuesday for Venus below the very slim crescent moon. You may miss the moon and Venus on Tuesday -- but if so you can try again Wednesday evening. You can see Venus and the moon as soon as it gets dark outside. Both worlds are low in the west -- above the place where the sun went down. One looks like a world -- the moon -- and the other one, Venus, looks like a very bright star. Venus is harder to see than the moon, although the planet is very bright. It's lower in the sky than the moon -- closer to the western horizon. Trees and building might block it from your view, however. The moon has just passed between the Earth and sun. Since it orbits Earth, it's always about a light-second away -- about 250 thousand miles. But Venus is another planet, and it's now far across the solar system -- about 14 light-minutes away. Venus is just out from behind the glare of the sun, where it has been since December. The planet is coming around to where we are -- gaining on Earth again in orbit. As it catches up to us, it will get higher in the western sky after sunset -- then sink down again -- shortly before passing between us and the sun in November. Many people will see Venus this spring. They'll call it the "evening star." Watch for it. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1985, 1986 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin