Venus' inferior conjunction: 8 days away

Event Date: May 28th
Time: 8:30 PM

Brief

   Have you noticed over the last two entries featuring Auriga and stars, that bright Venus is much lower to the horizon; that being, compared to the altitude at the same time on the clock as we saw it as recently as two-three weeks ago at the beginning of its retrograde?  Since then, starting mid-month, the gap between Venus and the Sun setting has shrank quickly.  This evening, Venus sets only 64 minutes after the Sun, which is seven minutes earlier than yesterday.  The gap has shrunk by 50% since May 19th, when it was two hours, seven minutes.  At the same time, apparent magnitude has only gone down to -4.0, from -4.6 in late April.  While viewing in optical aid, only 2% is illuminated.  At 56 arc-seconds illuminated, Venus' disc diameter is larger than Jupiter's at perihelion and opposition combined, which is 50 arc-seconds.

Here are the zoom-out and zoom-in views of Venus, with the latter being a 1/4º field (about 200x magnification).

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp

Detailed

  Venus' orbit was seen as a big loop from our perspective during the late winter and early spring months.  As a result, the ecliptic latitude northward increased.  Every December and June however, we see Venus pass one of its two nodes.  This time, next month, it is passing the descending one.  In combination with the excellent late-winter sky geometry of the western sky this year, the ecliptic latitude was part of the impressive northern declination of Venus.  Although still north of the Sun's position along the ecliptic, where Venus retrograded past about a week ago, the planet has dropped in declination, and will equal that of the Sun's at inferior conjunction.  This is why I mention crossing the descending node; it happens when Venus passes between us and the Sun and as a result, one of the biggest events of our lifetime happening for the last time while most of us on Earth today, are alive:  The Venus transit of the Sun as it will be referred to, happens only twice a century, including 2004.  The next one will not be until a little over 100 years from now.  I will reveal that exact date for then, when it happens at our location the afternoon and evening of June 5th.