Get Ready for UFO Reports - Venusians are Coming!

[Notrump]

Get ready for UFO reports. Venus soon will be popping into the pre-dawn eastern sky as the brilliant Morning Star following its inferior conjunction between the Earth and Sun on August 17th. Often this is so surprising that some astronomical illiterates, who are not used to seeing such a bright object in the sky before dawn, excitedly phone 911. :eek:

I calculate Venus will achieve its greatest brilliance of the apparition at magnitude -4.6 on September 23rd. Its highest altitude before sunrise for mid-northern hemisphere observers should happen on October 26th, while its Greatest Western Elongation of 46.5° will occur on October 28th. Around that time the apparent disk of Venus will appear 50% illuminated through a telescope, like a Half Moon. It will be seen as a crescent before then and a gibbous afterward. It will eventually settle back to Superior Conjunction behind the Sun on June 8th of next year.

I’ve created a graphic demonstrating the appearance of Venus and the Moon in the eastern sky as seen from northwest suburban Chicago 30 minutes before sunrise from 2007 AUG 25 through 2008 APR 02. Although it should well serve most northern hemisphere observers. It can be seen by clicking: http://www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html

It would be interesting to read descriptions from the first people to spot the UFO (or Venus, if you prefer) during the upcoming morning apparition. ;)

[tracer]

Silly boy! Everybody knows that Venus is really a gigantic spaceship carrying the entire civilization of Zeta Reticuli.

[UnrepentantSinner]

I saw Venus about 12 years ago and it really did look like an exceptionally bright moving object. Low altitude and atmospheric conditions (clear with a slight haze) seem to make it look more like it's moving.

[wollery]

Um, not to be pedantic or anything (what, me pedantic? never), but Venus is moving.

[UnrepentantSinner]

Um, not to be pedantic or anything (what, me pedantic? never), but Venus is moving.

You douche. :p I meant moving in ways other than how our rotation makes it appear to move through the sky.

[Cuddles]

You douche. :p I meant moving in ways other than how our rotation makes it appear to move through the sky.

Not to be even more pedantic than Wollery, but it is.

[UnrepentantSinner]

Not to be even more pedantic than Wollery, but it is.

O.k. You're telling me it moves like an effing UFO then all the time?

Venus is revolving around the Earth.
The Earth is rotating causing it to move in our sky.

Neither of those are what I'm effing talking about. :mad:

[simonmaal]

Does anybody have any pics or videos of this? I would love to see them so I know what to look out for.

[Cuddles]

Venus is revolving around the Earth.

Are you sure?;)

[wollery]

:dl:

[Notrump]

Does anybody have any pics or videos of this? I would love to see them so I know what to look out for.

My initial post at the top of this thread includes a link to an image I created demonstrating the movement of Venus in the pre-dawn eastern sky from now through April. ;)

[petra10]

I clicked the link but only got the top headline;venus and the moon ect,underneath it was just white! Do you know how this will be seen from Scotland?

[Notrump]

I clicked the link but only got the top headline;venus and the moon ect,underneath it was just white! Do you know how this will be seen from Scotland?

It would look fairly similar to the preview I posted for Chicagoland. The link is working fine for me. If the download stalls for you, then click the refresh arrows or hit the F5 key. I also recommend clearing your internet cache at least once a day. ;)

[tracer]

Um, not to be pedantic or anything (what, me pedantic? never), but Venus is moving.


Now, now.

I'm sure what he meant was "It looks like it's moving rapidly enough for the motion to be perceived as motion by the human eye."

Which the Earth's rotation and Venus's orbit around the sun would not be enough to cause.


I do have to admit, when I was out star-gazing in Oregon one summer night in 1992, there was this one bright object low on the horizon that I swore was moving. It turned out to be ... Arcturus. :-/

[Notrump]

I'm sure what he meant was "It looks like it's moving rapidly enough for the motion to be perceived as motion by the human eye."

Which the Earth's rotation and Venus's orbit around the sun would not be enough to cause.

The Earth's rotation causes celestial objects to appear to move 0.5° every two minutes. That's the angular diameter of the Sun or Full Moon. ;)

[kittynh]

The Venusians were very hot when they visited Earth in the 50's and early 60's. Blonde nordic types, with good childbearing hips and figures.

Now we have little grays. Alien invasion has gone downhill.

[UnrepentantSinner]

Venus is revolving around the Earth.

Are you sure?;)

Ack! Stupid rage induced typos. :p

This thead reminds me of the Marfa Lights which some UTD students debunked a few years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfa_lights

[simonmaal]

My initial post at the top of this thread includes a link to an image I created demonstrating the movement of Venus in the pre-dawn eastern sky from now through April. ;)

OOPS!! I missed that :blush:

Checking now....

ETA: Ah hang on, no I didn't miss it, I earlier saw the image when I followed your link. I was more interested in seeing a photograph of it, seeing as our weather here is such that clouds normally blot out most "points of astronomical interest."

[sophia8]

Get ready for UFO reports. Venus soon will be popping into the pre-dawn eastern sky as the brilliant Morning Star following its inferior conjunction between the Earth and Sun on August 17th. Often this is so surprising that some astronomical illiterates, who are not used to seeing such a bright object in the sky before dawn, excitedly phone 911. :eek: Is it true that some woman once phoned the police to report a UFO hovering over her house, and the "UFO" turned out to be the full Moon? Or is it an urban legend?
(I certainly know somebody who saw the full Moon rising behind a hill and illuminating some clouds from underneath, and couldn't work out what this amazing glowing light was.)

[The Atheist]

Is it true that some woman once phoned the police to report a UFO hovering over her house, and the "UFO" turned out to be the full Moon? Or is it an urban legend?

Dunno about that one, but police in NZ DID receive calls from people when the McNaught comet was visible, including one woman who rang to report a "plane on fire", so it's quite possible.

[tracer]

One night, while riding my motorcycle home along highway 101 southbound in the Silicon Valley, I saw a remarkable light in the sky. It looked like a yellow-white vertical streak, about the same height as the apparent diameter of the moon.

When I pulled over to get a better look, the vertical yellowish streak had disappeared, but a bright blue-white point of light was rising up from the same point in the sky, going higher and higher until it, too, went out.


I am absolutely positive that I was witnessing a space rocket launch. The yellow column of fire is consistent with the solid rocket boosters of most modern launch vehicles, and the blue-white point of light is what hydrogen-burning rocket engines look like from a distance. I was probably seeing the unmanned launch of a polar-orbiting satellite, made from one of the Air Force bases to the south of me.

I can imagine that if I didn't know what a rocket launch was supposed to look like, I'd be convinced that I was witnessing a flying saucer.