Venus, yes, Moon, no

by Jane Houston Jones


I tried to watch the graze of Venus against the moon tonight. A thick fog layer obscured the western horizon. I set up a small 6 inch reflector out on the back deck, which has a nice 180 degree view from north south, facing west mostly.

I scanned with binoculars from my back deck first for about 10 minutes before I spotted Venus. I was able once to see Venus. It was about 08:15 pm local time, or 03:15 8/01 UT. Then Venus was quickly obscured, not by the moon which I didn't see, but the clouds which I did see. Dang, I was gonna write something up using the sweet Christine Lavin song "Venus Kissed the Moon Tonight." as a theme. It's on the CD, "Shining my Flashlight on the Moon", for those who like clever and humorous folk songs. She really likes the Shallow Sky, Christine does. I sing her "Planet X", about Pluto all the time!