New Here

[taylorwhowanders01]

Hi All, agian Im new here, and I know absoluetly NOTHING about our atmosphere, but wanting to learn and know more. Ive never really looked up at the sky and wandered anything, until recently when i noticed everyone was seeing planets, and thought Humm...if only I knew which ones to look at and where excactly to look. If anyone is willing to "tutor" haha I guess you could say, I would be more than willing to listen!!! Thanks Very Much, sincerly ME

 

[adrenalynn]

Welcome to the forum!

Ask away! Nailpounder and I answered your question, and the thread right below this one (at the moment) is help identifying a constellation - you might find that thread of interest too.

 

[origin]

Welcome!

Here is a site that you can use to find the planets wherever you are.

http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/

 

[MeteorWayne]

Hi All, agian Im new here, and I know absoluetly NOTHING about our atmosphere, but wanting to learn and know more. Ive never really looked up at the sky and wandered anything, until recently when i noticed everyone was seeing planets, and thought Humm...if only I knew which ones to look at and where excactly to look. If anyone is willing to "tutor" haha I guess you could say, I would be more than willing to listen!!! Thanks Very Much, sincerly ME

Hi and welcome. Lots of good folks to help here, especially now that SDC has some decent software (nice to see you hanging around adrenalynn! ).
As you can guess from my handle, meteors are my specialty, but no one spends more time looking at the sky than a meteor observer, so I can help with lots of other stuff too. What part of the world are you from? That will help us in the future in answering questions you might have.

Meteor Wayne

 

[taylorwhowanders01]

Hello and thank you for the Invite I am from North Carolina, the mountain area, haha I enjoy asking questions about our earth and our amazing solar system, I have envy to those who are so educated in our system, the sky amazes me and the things in it!!! I sometimes just find myself sitting around when night falls, and in 20 degree weather just looking up and being amazed, literally thrown to the ground watching the moon rise and the stars twinkle. I don't have any certian questions, but if I could ask them all i would sit and listen to everything that was said, I guess what im saying is i don't know where to start!!! haha Its seems like as far as the eye can see...I would question till the sky ended!! Its truly amazing!!!

 

[MeteorWayne]

OK, it's good to know roughly where you are. I'm from northwestern NJ, so we're in the same time zone. It helps me because than I can input your location into my astro program and see exactly what you are seeing.

I was in NC once...back in my youth (a longlong time ago) our band spent a week on the famous "Trickery in Hickory" tour, one of the more eventful of my career as a roadie! :twisted:

 

[taylorwhowanders01]

OK, it's good to know roughly where you are. I'm from northwestern NJ, so we're in the same time zone. It helps me because than I can input your location into my astro program and see exactly what you are seeing.

I was in NC once...back in my youth (a longlong time ago) our band spent a week on the famous "Trickery in Hickory" tour, one of the more eventful of my career as a roadie! :twisted:

Haha yeah ive been through Hickory, never actually been into it yet!!! I have a question, if that is venus that i have been seeing, why is it SO BIG now, has it done that before, its normally out right after the sun sets, and stays there at least until the moon is above us and I guess it revoles with the rest of the planets!!!

 

[MeteorWayne]

Yes Venus has been there before and as bright. Venus is closer to the sun that we are, so goes from being visible in the evening, to being visible in the morning every few months. It is about as bright as it ever gets right now though.

 

[taylorwhowanders01]

Yes Venus has been there before and as bright. Venus is closer to the sun that we are, so goes from being visible in the evening, to being visible in the morning every few months. It is about as bright as it ever gets right now though.

May i tell you.....I Am SO Jelouse of your brain!!! :lol: Your knowledge is amazing, Venus has freaked me out since I first saw it in Febuary, and it was EXTREMLY bright last night, that was scary, haha!!! One more thing, as well as getting brighter, does it get bigger the more it revolves??? This has fasinated me and i am sooooo egar to learn more, tell me all you can about this planet please!!!!

 

[MeteorWayne]

In fact it is getting bigger right now; however it will get dimmer as it does so because it becomes more of a thin crescent. Venus has phases just like the moon, and for the same reason; it's alignment with the sun. It will be passing through what is called inferior conjunction soon. That is when it passes between us and the sun. That's when it's the closest to us. About 300 days from now it will pass behind the sun, that's called superior conjunction. In between it will be in the early morning sky.

If you have a pair of binoculars and a steady surface to rest them on, you may be able to see the crescent shape over the next few weeks...just be sure to wait until after sunset before you try.

 

[MeteorWayne]

I need to point out that the video about the Venus conjunction that is advertised sometimes next to the post, and is on the SDC main page has a serious error. It incorrectly states that inferior conjunction occurs every eight years with the next in 2017. That is incorrect; interval is about 19 months; from the March 27th one the next is on November 1, 2010 or therabouts.
Wayne

 

[taylorwhowanders01]

I need to point out that the video about the Venus conjunction that is advertised sometimes next to the post, and is on the SDC main page has a serious error. It incorrectly states that inferior conjunction occurs every eight years with the next in 2017. That is incorrect; interval is about 19 months; from the March 27th one the next is on November 1, 2010 or therabouts.
Wayne

thank you wayne for taking your time to answer my silly questions!!! haha I have seen this bright Venus since December though...is that normal?? about how long does she stay in our sky, not that i want her gone she is amazing and giving a great show at that. Just full of questions, sorry to bother you with them!!

 

[MeteorWayne]

It's no bother, I rather enjoy it. Curiousity is a good thing. Over a period of about 19 months Venus spends 7 months in the evening sky, is invisible (too close to the sun) for a month or two, 7 months in the morning sky, invisible for 2 months, then visible in the evening sky again.

The precise amount of time, and how good the appearence (called an apparition) is depend on the alignment of Venus' and the earth's orbit at the time.