October 26 — the Union of Venus and the Sun!

October 26, Venus will pass between the Sun and Earth will occur and the lower connection of Venus and the Sun.

Connecting the planet with the Sun can happen when the Sun is between the earth and the planet or when the planet is between the earth and the Sun. The second case is possible only for the upper planets (located behind the Earth relative to the Sun). For mercury and Venus both are possible, so they have upper (the planet behind the Sun) and lower (the planet in front of the Sun) connection.

When Venus approaches the Sun, it turns to the Earth its night side, from its glow is a thin silver sickle. Shahrin Ahmad of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia took this picture on October 20. According to him, he took a photo of the day — Venus was really big in the eyepiece of his telescope, angular diameter almost reached the corner minutes.

In the coming days, the Crescent of Venus will become more subtle and rounded. The horns of the Crescent can get in touch as soon as the distance between Venus and the Sun will be less (less than 6 degrees). This is perhaps the most perfect time to observe Venus, but also the most dangerous. The glare of the Sun, reinforced by the telescope, can harm the eyesight, if we observe the event through the eyepiece.

Anthony J. Cook of the Griffith Observatory gave some tips for observations: "I observed Venus in the mix, but only from the shadows of the building, or by adding a mask to the front end of the telescope, to completely shade the optics from direct sun light. It's hard to do with a refractor or catadioptric because the optics located in the front end of the pipe. At the Griffith Observatory I turn the telescope dome, to make sure that the lens of the telescope is shaded from direct sunlight, however, this means that the lens will be partially blocked, when it will be sent to Venus. On a Newtonian telescope, I add a curved cardboard mask on the front end of the tube to darken the main mirror."

Before the end of this week Venus can be observed without special precautions at dusk after sunset. Each evening the Crescent moon growing and shrinking.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»