• Shortly after sunset tonight (April 24, 2012), look in the western sky for the moon and the planet Venus - the second- and third-brightest celestial objects, respectively, after the sun. Venus is nearly at its brightest for this evening apparition now. Many are commenting that they can't believe how bright Venus is! And indeed the moon and Venus will dazzle you tonight, if your sky is clear after sunset. Just look west and see.
• Plus tonight's waxing crescent moon should have a soft glow on its darkened portion. This glow is really light reflected from Earth's day side. It's called

earthshine.
• The moon is now in a waxing phase. It will grow larger in phase over the coming days, as it waxes toward full.
• Like the moon, Venus has also phases. Planets orbiting the sun inside Earth's orbit - Mercury and Venus - always show the whole range of phases. Through a telescope they sometimes look like mini-moons - smaller in size, with fewer features on their surface as seen by earthly 'scopes. That's the case with Venus now. It's in a slim crescent phase. On the other hand, planets orbiting the sun outside of Earth's orbit - Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - always look full or close to full in the telescope.
• Unlike the moon, Mercury and Venus wane from full to new when they appear in the evening sky, as Venus does now. Venus is getting slimmer in phase every day. In contrast, when the moon is in the evening sky, the moon is waxing from new to full. The difference is due to the fact that the moon revolves around the Earth while Mercury and Venus revolve around the sun.
•

(Continued on page 9)