Today my father smsed me to say he was looking at the moon and Venus - it was lunchtime. I posted yesterday that they are daylight objects, but it isn't always easy to locate Venus. However, due to its position near the crescent moon, Saturn, Mercury and Antares, much has been said in the astronomical media about this very pretty asterism. Once I had found the moon, going on Dad's very precise instructions, it was quite simple to find Venus. Having rather strange eyesight - I can sometimes see things I would never expect to, but can't read instruction manuals or can labels - I used binoculars, and it was quite amazing. It was a pinpoint of light in the blue sky, as if someone was shining a torch. This is because of the constant cloud cover around Venus, which causes the sunlight to reflect right back, making this the brightest object in the sky after the sun. After familiarising myself with its location, I could spot Venus quite easily without the binoculars anytime I cared to look up.
As I gazed skyward, birds darted back and forth like aeroplanes over the big cities of Europe, and a gust of strong south-east wind blew a formation of sacred ibis into an untidy flock. I thought they were going to be blown out to sea as they were struggling to regain their composure and they blew a few hundred metres before managing to re-form into two groups and continue on their evening journey to their roost.
If you look just after sunset, you will see the dance between the stars, moon and planets for the last time - I'm not sure when they will line up again, but you can be sure I'll keep you posted!
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