Deb wrote:.... it must have been around the time of the inferior conjunction in June 1988.

Seems very probable, the years when inferior conjunction occur in June are the best "Venus years" with like Andrew wrote:

Oriental planets are best observed during the Autumn, while occidentals are best observed during the spring. This has to do with the inclination of the ecliptic. Venus, as an oriental planet during spring has a lower declination than the Sun, lies lower in the sky in the northern hemisphere and is therefore less brilliant in these parts of the world.

By the way if anyone in NW Europe reads this now, try to find Mercury at the West North West horizon at a few degrees height. Now in the Netherlands it is good weather and I'm going to try it in half an hour. It will be less brilliant as last saturday but still good visible.

About Venus' brilliantness even though the brightest period is short before and after inferior conjunction, with Venus in the greatest elongations Venus is later/earlier visible. Then the sky is darker and Venus will appear more brilliant, even though slightly less bright in magnitude. And the difference isn't big.

Thank you all for your contributions, I've been enjyoying the thread.

Eddie wrote: Thanks Andrew for mentioning the exact number of days. That's interesting data you have (the "%'s" of lillumination). Do you have a computer program for that or is this information available on a(n astronomical) website?

I'd be intrested to know too as I want to have information on Mercury next.

Talking about horary. In a 2nd hand shop I saw a book of Simmonite, a reprint though (but at least a several decades one) with Uranus, Neptune and Pluto interpretations added. I wonder if it is a good book just to know what horary is about. I'm not sure if I once might get into horary so buying Lilly seems too much of an investment to me.

The best place to get you started :
http://www.skyscript.co.uk/horary_intro.html

Christian Astrology is also available on this site:
http://www.skyscript.co.uk/texts.html#ca

Thanks Gem and thank you very much for those links .

Gem wrote:I'd be intrested to know too as I want to have information on Mercury next.

On page 5 (just after Deb's diagrams on top) of this thread I wrote something on the course of the brightness of Mercury. It differs from Venus. Yesterday I saw Mercury again. About 1 hour after sunset he is very easily visible in the West-North-West to North-West
direction. As Mercury is close to the horizon it is better to find a high place or a place with a free view on the western horizon.

And you don't have to wake up early to see Mercury now .

Yesterday I saw Mercury again

Good for you. I have been looking for Mercury for the past week, following your advice, but I haven't been able to see it. Even when the sky is clear, the clouds and mist gather around the western horizon. I will try again tonight but I am starting to lose hope. Also, apart from the one time I wrote about, it has been very difficult to see Venus in the mornings - again, the problem is a misty horizon. I understand why Ptolemy called the 12th house a bad place because it obscures the appearances of the planets. Its frustrating because I can't sleep nowadays with all this excitment of trying to find planets

I'm sorry to hear that. In the Netherlands we too often have bad skies and especially light polluted skies.

I understand why Ptolemy called the 12th house a bad place because it obscures the appearances of the planets.

He rather should have called England a bad place because it obscures the appearances of the planets .

In 2000 I was in England during 6 months. In that terrible rainy autumn I was in Brighton but I managed to see Mercury in the morning there. In fact I believe I had my first what I call a '7 in 24' over there: Seeing the classical 7 planets in a time span of 24 hours.

I hope you have more luck soon. Mercury has its best visibility this week, so you still have a chance. Perhaps you can find comfort in the story that is told that Copernicus never saw Mercury himself .

Venus will be morning planet for a while. The morning visibility in spring is not the ideal one but in late summer the circumstances will be better, even when Venus' distance to the Sun is diminishing again.

There is a beautiful photo today of the crescents of Moon and Venus on APOD. Just in case the weather is bad....

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

(move back to April 24 if you look at it later)

A beautiful picture, thank you, 3D!

Is it a montage? The indistinct crescent in the middle could be the Moon, nearly occulting some very closely connected stars - the Pleiades? The object just south of the crescent could be Mercury then. But where is Venus?

All is a little confusing, because the constellation I see and describe is announced to occur not before tomorrow night (the 26th): The new crescent just between the Pleiades and Mercury.

Eddy wrote:Thanks Andrew for mentioning the exact number of days. That's interesting data you have (the "%'s" of lillumination). Do you have a computer program for that or is this information available on a(n astronomical) website?

I highly recommend the free planetariums that may be downloaded from http://www.winstars.net/english/ Download both Winstars 1 (version 1) and Winstars 2. They are slightly different and both terrific!!

Winstars 1 is easier to maneuver for many of our interests and purposes. However, Winstars 2 has a much more extensive and improved astronomical build.

To find the current astronomical details of a planet in Winstars 2 - click on the tab 'observation', then go down down to 'Planets and Moons'. Select the planet of your choice, i.e. Venus - and there is all your data.

Update databases on comet, asteroids - or zoom in on satelites or space probes. Go to the tab 'Internet' and you can also reach tables for iridum flares. This will give your the timetables for when satelites pass up above, where to look and when the satelites have their mirrors turned towards the Earth, causing them to flare up and exceed Venus in brilliance.

The programs also print an astronomical ephemeris, and there is great graphics. Winstars offers great learning tools and it's free!

. . . if you look at the wrong picture, that of the 25th . . . that, 3D hadn't meant at all.
But it could have been the Pleiades . . . !

In any case tomorrow the waxing Moon's crescent will be seen right between the Pleiades in the north and Mercury in the south in the very early night Mercury being in his greatest eastern elongation.

3D wrote:There is a beautiful photo today of the crescents of Moon and Venus on APOD. Just in case the weather is bad....

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

(move back to April 24 if you look at it later)

Indeed, that's a wonderful one. At first I mistook Venus for the moon but it was taken through a telescope. This picture was taken wednesday 22nd from North Carolina, US, 2.5days before new moon. There the Venus occultation just didn't take place, while in large parts of the US and Canada there was an occultation (the same website has linked to pictures of that too http://www.pbase.com/polakis/venusmoon0409). Interesting to see that Venus is brighter per square ? ' " than the Moon but as the Moon's surface is many times bigger she will appear brighter on the whole.

Andrew Bevan wrote:I highly recommend the free planetariums that may be downloaded from http://www.winstars.net/english/ Download both Winstars 1 (version 1) and Winstars 2. They are slightly different and both terrific!!

Thanks Andrew for the tips. Unfortunately, as I have no own computer and my personal space on the university library computers is limited, I'm afraid I might not be able to download the programs.

johannes susato wrote:In any case tomorrow the waxing Moon's crescent will be seen right between the Pleiades in the north and Mercury in the south in the very early night Mercury being in his greatest eastern elongation.

Mercury might be easier to find then. If you haven't seen Mercury the conjunction with the Moon is a great opportunity to find him. In Europe the ecliptical conjunction takes place at 15:30 UT (Sunday) so short after sunset they are quite close from eachother, 2?.

About an hour after sunset it is getting dark enough to see him. In the UK (latitude of London) this will be ca. 20:00 UT I think. At an earlier time the sky is too bright at a much later time Mercury will disappear in the usually too thick layer of air near the horizon. In West-North-West direction. If you look in that direction at 40?-50? you can see Capella in the constellation Auriga. Mercury is almost directly on the 'plumbline' down to the horizon. At ca. 8? height this is about the same as the size of your fist at stretched arm's length. In the South-West the bright star Sirius is visible, a higher and more to the West there is Betelgueze in Orion, a bit lower again and in the West there is Aldebaran in Taurus. Higher and to the right is Capella. On Sunday night the Moon will be just 2? above Mercury. If you manage to find the Moon then the chance to find Mercury is there, especially with a pair of binoculars. You even can try to find the Moon when it is still too light to find Mercury, then with the binoculars you could give it a try. Note that Mercury's brightness is quickly decreasing. He is already noticeable weaker than last Saturday.

Another program (fortunately this one is online) to find the sky of the moment is http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/

Eddy wrote
At first I mistook Venus for the moon

That's funny, so did I!
Thank you for explaining the picture.

I'm looking forward to Sunday evening's Moon-Mercury-Pleiades setting and hope for clear weather.

Ren?

I gather that the moon will occlude the pleiades as well.The Babylonian astrologers would have taken that quite seriously.

Matthew