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Moon - Venus Conjuction of 2/2/00





    We woke up to a beautiful conjunction of Venus with the crescent Moon on the morning of February 2nd.  I kept in e-mail touch with a few friends about it, and all thought it was some great naked eye viewing!  Here's my report of it:
 


> > > Hi folks,
> > > I've been working out of the office a lot lately, so I didn't have a
> > > chance
> > > to give you guys a heads up about this yesterday, but did you see the
> > > tango
> > > in the sky this morning between Venus and the slivered moon?
> > Beautiful!!!
> > > I actually remembered to grab my camera as I went out to the car this
> > > morning, and I ended up taking about 15 shots while I was driving in
> to
> > > work
> > > this morning (OK, so I only took about 5 while I was actually driving
> > down
> > > I-270, for the others I pulled over in a couple of spots for hopefully
> > > better pics.)  If I get anything good I'll put 'em on the web site for
> > you
> > > to see.
> > >
> > > John, you know I like to watch Venus naked eye as long after sunrise
> as
> > > possible, and that this is only practical when Venus is near a
> brighter
> > > landmark, the moon.  Today for the first time, I had a comfortable
> view
> > of
> > > Venus after sunrise.   Just a couple of minutes after sunrise, while
> the
> > > sun
> > > was not yet too bright, I could view the sun, moon and Venus easily.
> > > (Should've tried to take a picture of that).  Later, when it was no
> > longer
> > > possible to look at the sun directly, I again picked out the crescent
> > moon
> > > and Venus at about 8am.  (No longer easy.)
> > >
> > > During the commute I was also able to detect the noticeable relative
> > > motion
> > > between the moon and Venus (with the moon closing the gap).  I'm not
> > sure
> > > if
> > > this is more an indication of the moon's quick motion or the abnormal
> > > length
> > > of my commute.  (Actually, from my point of view, I do know which of
> > these
> > > it is!)
> > >
> > > I tried again for Venus at about 11am, but was not able to get it.
> > > Actually, the moon was quite a challenge, but I did eventually find
> it.
> > > Maybe with sunglasses I could've seen Venus.
> > >
> > > Hope you guys took notice this morning,
> > > Ron
 

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