FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Re: Venus Surprising

[<rtejera@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Stan,

According to my Palm,(PDA, not hand), Venus was at -4.2 Magnitude =
Sunday. Not sure what the threshold is, but I know that is bright enough =
to cast Cytherian shadows. I was at Eagle Eye one night and noticed my =
shadow in front of me. Turning around I saw that it was Venus. Still =
waiting to duplicate Rich Walkers Jovian Shadow, however.

Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Stan Gorodenski
Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:29 AM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Venus Surprising


Sunday night I was at around the 8,000 ft. elevation in New Mexico. I=20
was in my van doing some reading to wait for the skies to get dark after =

the sun set. After reading for awhile I turned the lights off to see the =

stars. I noticed across the road there appeared to be a light coming=20
from a trailer (which I thought was vacant) because of  light reflection =

in the trees. However, as the night wore on and it got darker the=20
contrast between the reflected light and the night sky did not increase. =

About a half hour later I then noticed what looked like someone  making=20
their way down the road in the distance because the trees were lit up in =

a horizontal direction. Since I was in a remote area I carefully opened=20
the door of my van and quietly walked to see where the the light was=20
coming from. I was shocked to see it was Venus. Venus was ready to set=20
and must have been blocked by trees early on. The flickering that made=20
it appear as though someone was walking with a flashlight must have been =

caused by Venus passing behind branches as it was setting. Also, my=20
guess is Venus must have been reflecting off something, maybe the vacant =

travel trailer, that caused the trees to be lit up giving the appearance =

that someone was occupying it.
Stan
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