May 14's Esoteric Crescent Venus

An exclusive of Spaceweather.com, this image of crescent Venus poses the fact that Venus is transforming into a slender crescent, as viewed from earth. Prepared to transit for us June 5-6, 2012, Venus is the brightest object in the night sky (except for the moon, of course) but will, over the summer, sink down into the golden beams of the sunset, and will officially become a morning planet in the autumn. But, this photograph has something perhaps "esoteric" and mystical about it. John Chumack of Dayton, Ohio, took the picture on May 14th using a 10-inch telescope. "I was blown away by the sight of Venus," he says. "The planet was 14% illuminated, 47 arcseconds in diameter, and blazing at -4.43 magnitude."

Detail of above picture

Kevin R. Whitman experienced Venus in a different manner. "Venus is as striking through a telescope as it with the naked eye. Its thin crescent phase along with Earth's atmospheric refraction of its ample light makes for a beautiful image through my 10-inch telescope. Image obtained with a Meade 10-inch LX50, f/20 using an Imaging Source DFK web camera. Processed using Registax 5." With the help of the atmosphere, Venus' light was able to refract and divide into the spectrum for this exciting image of the planet.

Detail of above picture

 As for now, Venus transeat!