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APOD - February 23,2025

Phases of Venus

Image Credit & Copyright : Richard Addis

Explanation: Just as the Moon goes through phases , Venus' visible sunlit hemisphere waxes and wanes. This composite of backyard telescopic images illustrates the steady changes for Venus during its current stint as our evening star, as the inner planet grows larger but narrows to a thin crescent. Images from bottom to top were taken during 2020 on dates February 27, March 20, April 14, April 24, May 8, and May 14. 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 Venus swings closer to our line-of-sight to the Sun. Closest to the Earth-Sun line but passing about 1/2 degree north of the Sun on June 3, Venus will reach a (non-judgmental) inferior conjunction . Soon after, Venus will shine clearly above the eastern horizon in predawn skies as planet Earth's morning star . After sunset tonight look for Venus above the western horizon and you can also spot elusive innermost planet Mercury .

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APOD - January 22,2025

Venus and the Triply Ultraviolet Sun

Image Credit: NASA / SDO & the AIA, EVE, and HMI teams; Digital Composition: Peter L. Dove

Explanation: An unusual type of solar eclipse occurred in 2012. Usually it is the Earth's Moon that eclipses the Sun. That year, most unusually, the planet Venus took a turn. Like a solar eclipse by the Moon, the phase of Venus became a continually thinner crescent as Venus became increasingly better aligned with the Sun. Eventually the alignment became perfect and the phase of Venus dropped to zero. The dark spot of Venus crossed our parent star. The situation could technically be labeled a Venusian annular eclipse with an extraordinarily large ring of fire . Pictured here during the occultation, the Sun was imaged in three colors of ultraviolet light by the Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory , with the dark region toward the right corresponding to a coronal hole . Hours later, as Venus continued in its orbit, a slight crescent phase appeared again. The next Venusian transit across the Sun will occur in 2117 .

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