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Thanks for a precise time and location Antoine.

Prior to reading the e-mail this AM I looked out a window toward a
neighbor's house. Thanks to blowing lake-effect snow the their red brick
wall--less than 40 meters away--was barely visible. Sadly, barring a
minor miracle, Stellarium is about the closest I'll come to a live
viewing. Located 22 statute miles from Lake Michigan it's been one
bitter-cold arctic blast and snow system after another, followed by a
wind shift and lake-effect snow. None of the clear blue skies associated
with a high here.

I've been anticipating the event for weeks, but for more whimsical and
romantic reasons; and calculating with much less precision for my
would-be viewing area and limited viewing window at 41d 45.5 N 86d 14.9
W. First scoured the NA to get an estimate for the hour where GHA's
would nominally be identical, then when declination would be nominally
identical.

For those of you that recall John Gray's 1992 book, "Men Are from Mars,
Women Are from Venus," as well as the old saw, "A man chases a woman
until she catches him," my interest was when Mars caught up to Venus
using azimuth as the yardstick. About 23:25:00 UTC 19 February at my
location, with apparent Mars in the superior position by a skosh over 1d
(an apparent distance roughly equal to an aspirin tablet held out at
arms length). Events turn as the pursuer becomes the pursued (until the
tables turn yet again). Just minutes after sunset so probably not
viewable with a scope even with good seeing conditions.

But wait, there's more. For diehard lunarians, the 19th is Chinese New
Year. So don't forget to stop writing "The Year of the Horse" on your
checks and change it to "The Year of the Goat."

Yet more serendipity. As "Kermit" noted, Mars and Venus continue to move
closer to kissing. As the fox begins chasing the hound they will be
cradled in the crescent Moon on the 20th.

Not scientific observations, but this is not my job but rather my
pleasure. Enjoy whatever your mindset.

PS. Photos of the 20th event would be appreciated. Anyone camped out on
California's lost coast?

On 2/18/2015 3:46 AM, Antoine Couëtte wrote:
> 1 - Looking up my cristal bowl, I can see that on Feb 22nd, 2015 by
> 06h24m29.7s TT (i.e. approximately 06h23m25s UT1) the Geocentric angular
> distance/separation between the centers of Venus and Mars will be
> minimum and close to 1,481.2 " (24.7') i.e. less than the Moon or Sun
> Diameter seen from Earth . And,
>
> 2 - Likewise, on Feb 21st, 2015 by 03h00 UT, and observed from a
> position in the vicinity of N35°/W135° Venus, Mars and the New Moon
> should be visible in a quite narrow circle, less than about 1° radius. And,
>

   

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