Venus' celestial path, west of Sun

Event Date: October 21st

Time: 6:00 AM

Brief

   During the weeks sandwiching inferior conjunction, Venus moves from prograde to retrograde as a disappearing evening planet, and did the opposite when rising west of the Sun in the morning.  Since resuming prograde, the planet has increased in this direction rapidly, moving through Gemini, Cancer and Leo.  Shown below, is the celestial path of Venus, as it passed through these constellations, and now in eastern Leo.  I bent the sky  downward to show enough sky to show the entire path over the last two months.  Although it is not easily obvious to view, the 10-day interval markers are slightly further apart as the path moves west to east.

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

Detailed

Back on October 3rd, Venus had a brilliant passing with Regulus.  When I viewed them before Sunup, I couldn't even see Regulus with the eye alone, because of Venus' brightness.  The planet resembled a star with lots of "points", because of its "sparkle (er, glare).  With a telescope, seeing them about 1/4 degree apart, seeing Regulus is much easier of course.  The separation between them was about half that of a Moon's diameter.

   Also, although I haven't put in the ecliptic, we can see how the path of Venus somewhat traces out our Sun's path.  Of course, since inferior conjunction, presenting Venus transiting the Sun for the final time this century, it has decreased in ecliptic latitude, reached ascending node, and now increasing in ecliptic latitude.  It is a result of that, along with the good geometry of the eastern morning sky, that Venus is high and easily viewable with less atmospheric pollution, for the next few weeks.

   If you want to get an idea of how quickly Venus is now moving past the stars, mark its position relative to Regulus, and notice over the course of the next few weeks how much that gap increases.