What’s that bright thing in the morning sky?
Published on Sep 21, 2007 at 11:59 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under skywatching.
If you get up in the morning before dawn and look East, you’ll see a really bright object. There is no mistaking it. It is nearly ten times brighter than the brightest star. What is it? I’ve been asked several times this past week. Well, the answer is that it is the planet Venus.
Venus is currently at its brightest in the morning skies, rising some three hours before the Sun (at least here in Texas). Venus is not the closest to us. It was closest about a month ago, as it passed between Earth and the Sun. It is currently pulling in front of Earth in its orbit. Venus is about 0.43 AU (about 40,000,000 miles) from us right now, and receding. But, at its closest, the side away from Earth is lit by the Sun. The side towards us is lit when Venus is on the far side of the Sun, but by then it is quite far away. About a month before or after closest approach is when the planet appears brightest, balancing the amount of the planet lit up and its distance.
Venus gets brighter than any star, and brighter than any other natural object in the sky other than the Sun, Moon, and occasional meteor. Venus also is visible like this only every two years or so. Thus, many people forget, or didn’t notice the last time, so they often mistake Venus for some non-natural object. In fact, Venus is very commonly reported as an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO). Some decades ago, a fighter jet even tried to chase Venus for a while! Several years ago, someone called the college asking for someone in astronomy. They put the caller through to me. He wanted to know to whom he should report an UFO sighting. I asked him what he had seen, and he very accurately described the location of the planet Venus at the time that he had seen his UFO (it was visible in the evening sky at that time). He didn’t like it when I told him that he’d seen Venus. He insisted that it was an UFO because it had flown away when he came back outside after eating dinner. I explained that Venus sets.
So, go outside, and take a look towards the East in the mornings. You’ll see the planet Venus. It is very bright, and very impressive, and quite worth the effort.
-Astroprof
(Image created using Stellarium)
