dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (11/10/85)
Look for the moon and Venus before dawn on Monday. More -- after this. November 10 Venus and the Moon On Monday -- if you're outside before dawn washes the sky of its stars -- look in the east for something very pretty -- the planet Venus near a very thin crescent moon. The pair will be low in the eastern sky. The moon has passed Venus before dawn every month since last spring. But Monday might be the last time you'll see the moon near Venus for some time -- because next month Venus will disappear into the dawn. What's really happening is that Venus is now fleeing ahead of Earth in orbit. It orbits the sun inward from the Earth -- and so Venus moves faster around the sun than we do. Venus will have gained so much distance on us by next month that it will "turn the corner" ahead of us in orbit -- and be lost from our view. It'll emerge on the other side of the sun -- and return to our evening sky -- this coming March. The moon has passed near Venus every month because it takes about a month to orbit Earth -- a month to complete a circle around our sky. After Monday, the moon will disappear into the sun's glare. It'll be moving across the daytime sky with the sun on Tuesday -- the day of new moon. On Wednesday, you might see the moon again -- as a slender crescent in the west after sunset. So take a look Monday morning -- for the two brightest objects in the night sky -- Venus and the moon -- near each other in the east before dawn. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin