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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Venus
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Dec 9, 02:46 EST
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Dec 9, 02:46 EST
Bill you wrote: "As we move towards inferior conjunction Jan 13, Venus may become 60" or more in diameter, with the area illuminated diminishing. If not accounted for one way or another, we could be looking at an errors up to 1.0'." An old joke comes to mind: Patient: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this." Doctor: "Then don't do that!"You're absolutely correct that there is a phase issue. There may be ways of dealing with it (as I mentioned in another post, the phase is *visible* in a high-enough power sextant telescope), but by far the most reliable is "don't do that". Don't use Venus for lunars when it has a significant phase. -FER 42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W. www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
