Venus, Jupiter and the Moon "in line"

Event Date: June 15th
Time: 5:30 AM

Brief

   Almost as quickly as we saw Venus disappear into the Sun's glare during the second half of May, we are seeing it emerge now and waxing.  It is only 3% illuminated yet still large enough in angular size to be visible through atmospheric pollution.  It will slowly brighten a little each morning also, which is the reverse of what we witnessed after greatest magnitude and brilliancy dates last month.  Venus is 14º separated from the Sun.  Below is the image of the two together.

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

Detailed

  The separation between Venus and the Sun will continue to grow as Venus continues in retrograde.  Besides that, remember that Jupiter is rising about 3 1/2 minutes earlier than the Sun each day this week and Venus closes in on it more each day.  The two are 9 1/2º apart now, which is a little more than double their separation at closest, shortly after the beginning of Summer.  Venus will wax more by then and once again be a fine telescope target.  If using binoculars over the next few weeks, the crescent shape may be just barely visible, considering the low magnification of binoculars compared to most amateur telescopes.  Once they become close enough towards the end of the month, I will show them in a smaller binocular field.  They will never be close enough to view together in most telescopes; the lowest f-ratio of telescopes with long focal-length eye-pieces may beable to by then, depending on the exact size of the field.
   Finally, look to the upper right of Venus and Jupiter where a crescent shape much larger than Venus is seen waning and currently 14% illuminated.  There, we see the Moon, which visits the planets in a tighter grouping two days from now.  Tomorrow, I will show it lined up with Venus and Jupiter as seen from Earth, which I will elaborate on then.