A Daylight Sighting of Venus

This photograph was taken by the author on June 18th 2007 at 1553 UT (4:53 pm BST). Venus can be seen as a bright point of light just to the West of the waxing crescent Moon, and it was easily seen with the naked eye. The planet's visibility was aided by the close proximity of the Moon, which provided a clear directional reference point and helped to focus the eye.

The photo was taken shortly after the Moon had passed in front of Venus, blocking it from view, in an event called an occultation.

Occultations of bright planets by the Moon are relatively frequent occurences, though any given event can only be seen across a specific region (track) of the Earth. This particular occultation was visible from North-eastern North America, Europe and South-western Asia (for details of forthcoming occultations, see the IOTA website).

Venus was situated high in the sky and close to the author's local meridian (due South) when the photo was taken. Venus, then at magnitude -4.2, was technically a 'Evening Star', showing a Westward-facing half-phase through telescopes.

Photo details: Taken using a Canon EOS 300D DSLR camera. A 250th-second exposure at f/8, ISO 100, with a 55-200mm lens set at 200mm.

Copyright © Martin J. Powell  Oct 2007