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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend August 9, 2005 Since you asked Planet ‘near’ the moon was Venus A beautiful picture: On Sunday, Aug. 7, at about 9 p.m., the new moon appeared in the western sky with a planet just to the left of it "close enough to touch." Question: What planet is it that appears to be that close to the moon, and how far actually is it from the moon? — Bob C., Medford We marvelled at that beautiful display ourselves, Bob. It must be "spectacular" when it distracts the kids from a swimming pool! With resident Since You Asked starman Richard Moeschl on hiatus, we turned to Space.com starman Larry Sessions to find out what we were looking at. First, let’s get the terms all proper. Although a crescent moon is a "new moon" in a traditional sense, a new moon is "no moon" to an astronomer — it’s still there, just not visible because the side reflecting the sun is facing away from us. A new moon is the moment when the moon is in conjunction with the sun (in the same place in the sky). That happened at 9:05 p.m. Thursday. Sessions (at both space.com and his own home.comcast.net/~sternmann/index.htm) tells us that we were looking at Venus just 1.2 degrees "south" of the moon Sunday evening. It happened again (not so close) on Monday after sunset. To get an idea how "close" that is, the sky from horizon to horizon is 180 degrees, so 1.2 degrees is kissing-close from our vantage point on Earth. Advertisement But Venus is 95 percent of Earth’s diameter, and the Moon is 25 percent as wide. To appear as a speck of light next to a crescent moon, Venus must be very far away. According to www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/Solar , as of Monday afternoon Venus was 1.295 Astronomical Units (120,377,874 miles). One AU is the average distance from the Earth to the sun, or about 93 million miles. To quote another of our favorite starmen, "keep looking up!": Tonight and Wednesday evening, you’ll see Jupiter just 1.3 degrees from the moon — though Jupiter’s really 550,391,811 miles away. Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to Since you asked ">[email protected] . We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Online Casino Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation Online Pharmacy Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Rogue Valley Travel Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Casino Gambling Sites Budget Website Templates Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Advertisement s