This image taken on March 8 shows light from the waning Venus being refracted into a bright rainbow by Earth's atmosphere. (Photo by Douglas Kostick)
New images have revealed that the 'planet of love' Venus looks very different as it prepares to line up for a spectacular conjunction later this week. The hellish world has become a thin crescent that, under the right conditions, can appear as a giant fire rainbow.
On March 23, Venus will reach inferior conjunction, or the moment when it is exactly between the Earth and the sun. On this day, the bright sunlight will make it nearly impossible to see the planet. But even if we could see it, it would be hidden in shadow, like a new moon. In the final weeks and months, the planet has been shrinking as it approaches alignment, giving it an increasingly crescent-shaped appearance.
Amateur astronomer Douglas Kostick set out to capture the disappearing planet on March 8 at the Marian and Max Farash Center for Observational Astronomy in Ionia, New York, when only about 7 percent of Venus was visible. But his images also showed that the crescent moon looked like a cosmic rainbow.
The amazing rainbow effect is caused by particles in Earth's atmosphere that refract, or spread out, different wavelengths of light, like a prism, according to Spaceweather.com. “When Venus is close to the horizon, refraction separates the red crescent from the blue,” Spaceweather.com said. “The crescent is so thin that the splitting of colors is obvious.”
As Venus approaches inferior conjunction, more and more of the planet's “night side” faces Earth.
The same effect was captured by Kevin R. Whitman, who captured a less detailed image of Venus's rainbow crescent from Cochranville, Pennsylvania, on March 9. In this image, the rainbow colors are inverted compared to Kostik's photograph because the planet was in a different part of the sky relative to the observer.
As recently as March 16, astronomer Raffaello Lena captured a rainbow effect on video near Rome, Italy. In this case, atmospheric turbulence caused the light from Venus to flicker and distort, making the rainbow appear to be “on fire,” Spaceweather.com reports.
Parade Planet
Venus has become unusually bright in recent weeks as it approaches Earth, making it a prime target for amateur astronomers since early February. During this time, the hellish world also became the star of a rare planetary parade, when all the celestial bodies of the Sun
Sourse: www.livescience.com
