Venus passing Porrima- further apart

Event Date: November 6th

Time: 6:00 AM

Brief

   Here is a 2nd showing of the Venus/Porrima pairing.  Yesterday, they were 1.3º while today at the same time, they are a few arc-minutes further apart.  Therefore, I will keep the field of view the same for the image below, being 2º.  That way, instead of being too close to the circumference of the circle, they are a little more centered which means less eye movement from side to side.

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

Detailed

   Venus passed by Porrima, with its ecliptic latitude of 1.7ª.  Venus however, is about 2.8º in ecliptic latitude.  Therefore, although the planet can at times reach the same latitude as Porrima's, it didn't happen this time and therefore, not even close to an occultation.  When they reached closest encounter at about 1.1º in separation, this could be shown a little more definitely.  As hinted, the same will happen with Spica, at a separation being slightly more.

   As Venus continues to move along the ecliptic, or near it anyway, other 1st-3rd magnitude stars will be seen near it.  Which stars Venus passes, depends on our view of it, which can be further dependent of where it is in its orbit, and what months of the year that we see it.  In the case if the transit of the Sun, it meant that we had to see Venus at an ecliptic latitude of nearly zero.  Other times, when its conjunction with the Sun is 7 or 8º, about as far as it gets, that tells us that it can be about this far from the ecliptic when further from the Sun, and stars are visible near it.  Keep an eye on the planet between now and when it gets close to inferior conjunction.  While the geometry of the eastern, morning sky is still decent, and Venus' separation from the Sun is still enough to see it near stars, which do you recognize?