[BAA-ebulletin 00962] Observer's Challenge: the Moon and Venus in the evening sky

[BAA electronic bulletins service]

Over the next few evenings, Venus and the Moon will form a close
pairing in the western dusk sky, providing an excellent photographic
challenge.

In December and January, encounters of these two objects occurred when
the Moon was a substantial crescent. But Venus is now drawing closer
to the Sun as its current evening apparition draws to a close. This
month's conjunction is taking place only two days after Sunday's new
moon and annular solar eclipse, and so only a tiny slither of the Moon
will be visible.

This is the last time the two objects will pass one another in the
evening sky until 2018: by next month, Venus will have passed solar
conjunction to become a morning object.

On the BAA website, you can find a series of simulations of how the
conjunction will appear over the next few evenings, including the
positions of Mars and Uranus which are both nearby. The charts are
here: https://britastro.org/node/9275

If you manage to observe the pairing, we'd love to see your images.
Please do post them to your Members Page in the Community area of the
website. We'll be watching out for your images and will post a gallery
of some of our favourites over the next few days.

Dominic Ford
BAA Website Operations Team