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joeshredd

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Question for the Celestially informed...

Attached is a pic of sunset from Seattle, Aug. 7th, I believe, looking WSW at the moon... What is the celestial object to the left of the moon? A planet or a star???

Any help appreciated! Thanks!
 

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joeshredd said:
Question for the Celestially informed...

Attached is a pic of sunset from Seattle, Aug. 7th, I believe, looking WSW at the moon... What is the celestial object to the left of the moon? A planet or a star???

Any help appreciated! Thanks!
Click to expand...

The planet Venus.
 
Gollnick said:
It's shaped like a giant Big Boy!
Click to expand...


ya know, I thought it was a big smiley face missing one eye!!!

Larry B, I thought it might be Venus, but I wasn't familiar with it that close in the sky to the Moon... it was a great sight that took me several minutes to figure out it wasn't an approaching jet, which is usually the case! LOL!!!

Thanks, guys!
 
Danzz said:
That big and red? Can't be nothing but Venus.
Click to expand...

Well, to tell the truth, I couldn't see any color in the view I had and I only came across the pic above in someone else's post on another site... and if it was red, I'd'a picked Mars? :p
 
Mars is red looking. Venus is white. Except for the phases of Venus not much to look at in a scope. All covered with clouds. Mars will be a good site this Oct. with a telescope, if there isn't a dust storm.
 
That close to the horizon around sunset, you will get a reddish cast to anything up there.

The website www.SPACE.com is good for general information on What's out There. :) On the bar along the top, they have an item NightSky, and when you click on it, one of he headers you'll find is What's Up Tonight - Moon phases, visible planets and sky events.
 
I was kinda hoping for a link like yours... however, I do admit that I have been rather unsucessful in finding out what I've seen in the past 'cause I can't seem to find the right way to look up what I'm seeing or to translate what I've seen into what the 'net has to offer... your link might prove useful in the future! (Maybe I should'a stayed awake in my old Astonomy 101 class, but the auditorium was soooo dark, and sooo stuffy... and .... zzzzzzzzzzzzz......
Thanks!
 
I had a dog named Venus when I was a kid. Um... I dunno, just a thought...

~ashes
 
Lol, you guys are right on the color thing. Both Mars and Venus seem to be reddish to me whenever I see them with the naked eye.
 
Mercury and Venus are inferior planets, that is, they are closer to the sun than Earth is. Consequently, we never see them far from the sun, and Mercury is generally so close that it is below the tops of trees or hills. Only in flat country is Mercury a common sight, and that only right at sundown.

Venus rides a bit higher, but still within that zone reflecting the reddened sunlight. It's an effect of the sunlight seen through the atmosphere sideways, rather than through the thinner angle when it's overhead.

Mars, of course, will always appear red because it is red, rust-red, dust-red, red with the blood of marauding Martians, lusting for the juice of fat Earth, crushed beneath the feet of their conquering machines ... :eek:

:( ... sorry ... :(​
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Mars, of course, will always appear red because it is red, rust-red, dust-red, red with the blood of marauding Martians, lusting for the juice of fat Earth, crushed beneath the feet of their conquering machines ... :eek:
:( ... sorry ... :(​
Click to expand...

Great . . . . now I'm gonna' have to sleep with the lights on tonight!
 
We're going back!
Attack, attack!

Next US Mars probe set for launch

Nasa's latest Mars mission is set to be launched on Wednesday.

The Mars Reconaissance Orbiter (MRO) will search the planet for promising landing sites for future robotic missions, in the US quest to eventually send astronauts to Mars.

The spacecraft could identify suitable habitats for life on the Red Planet.
 
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