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Venus at Peak of Brightness
Jotii writes "The planet Venus is right now at its peak of brightness. Until the third of December, you will actually be able to see shadows cast by Venus. From the article: "Venus is reaching its peak brightness for 2005 and casting its very best shadows right now." More from the article: 'Difficult, yes, but worth the effort, he says. After all, how many people have seen themselves silhouetted by the light of another planet? If you'd like to try, this is the week. Your attempt must come before Dec. 3rd. After that, the crescent moon will join Venus in the evening sky, and any shadows you see then will be moon shadows.'"
I am so going to have to try this tomorrow.
Way back in high school, I used to have a "zero period" class that started at 7:00am. I'd start walking to school early enough that Venus was still quite visible, and I'd try to keep it in view as long as possible as the sky lightened.
Heh. I know this is a joke, but a few years ago I watched a lunar eclipse from my balcony. At one point one of my neighbors came out and started taking pictures of the moon -- with the flash. One can just mean you forgot to turn it off, but two or more?
It reminded me of the people you occasionally see at Disneyland taking flash photos in Star Tours, not realizing they're likely to get a washed-out white screen instead of a picture of the Death Star.