金星的蛾眉位相

金星的蛾眉位相

2023年8月26日 Crescents of Venus Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Ortu Explanation: Just as the Moon goes through phases, Venus’ visible sunlit hemisphere waxes and wanes. This sequence of telescopic images illustrates the steady changes for Venus during its recent 2023 apparition as our evening star. Gliding along its interior orbit between Earth and Sun, Venus grows larger during that period because it is approaching planet Earth. Its crescent narrows though, as the inner planet swings closer to our line-of-sight to the Sun. Closest to the Earth-Sun line but passing about 8 degrees south of the Sun, on August 13 Venus reached its (non-judgmental) inferior conjunction. And now Venus shines above the eastern horizon in predawn skies, completing its transition to planet Earth’s morning star. On…

月相矩阵

月相矩阵

2022年10月1日 Lunation Matrix Image Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel (TWAN) Explanation: Observe the Moon every night and you’ll see its visible sunlit portion gradually change. In phases progressing from New Moon to Full Moon to New Moon again, a lunar cycle or lunation is completed in about 29.5 days. Top left to bottom right, this 7×4 matrix of telescopic images captures the range of lunar phases for 28 consecutive nights, from the evening of July 29 to the morning of August 26, following an almost complete lunation. No image was taken 24 hours or so just after and just before New Moon, when the lunar phase is at best a narrow crescent, close to the Sun and really hard to see. Finding mostly clear Mediterranean…