ActiveCounty
West Berkshire
ActiveCounty
West Berkshire
Starwatch
Ambition Never Stays Grounded
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On July 20th 1969, Humans first landed on the moon. America were responsible for it but the entire planet all felt a sense of achievement. They knew what was now possible.
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Fast forward 51 years and over 72 countries claim to have space programmes, China has caught up to the original leaders of America and Russia and NASA is eyeing up Mars.
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Space programs have had financial issues over the years but to say that nothing is happening is like saying a carpenter is wasting their time collecting wood or sharpening their tools.
Space-X
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In the space of just 18 years, SpaceX has well and truly set a very high bar for a privately funded company. But also have shown themselves world leading and pioneering with the successful landing of an orbital rocket (Falcon 9 in 2015), which they reused in 2017.
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Proving that space travel doesn't have to be incredibly costly and un-reusable.
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SpaceX has certainly proven themselves worthy of dreaming of the stars. So it is no surprise that it's built an important partnership with NASA. As they well and truly take us further than ever before.
A Glimpse Of Venus
December 14th, 1962, 6 years prior to the moon landing. NASA send an unmanned spacecraft to investigate Venus. Mariner 2. This was the second attempt to reach the planet, with it's mission being to conduct planetary exploration by gathering as much data as possible during a carefully choreographed flyby. The spacecraft, passed within 21,000 miles of the surface of Venus. Now to put that distance into perspective. The moon is currently 238,000 miles from us on Earth. Venus on the other hand can vary from 24 - 162 Million miles from Earth, depending on orbit.
The mission was only ever gonna be successfully if they picked the right space of time to launch. To maximise resources you of course launch when you know Venus will be at it's closest point.
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So Why Is Venus Visible Now?
Well you would probably think it's because it's currently at it's closest to Earth... no. Sorry, may have thrown you off on purpose.
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We are the 3rd planet from the Sun and with Venus being the 2nd, most of the time it's lost in the Sun's glare.
'Roughly every 1.6 years it becomes observable for a few months, when it reaches greatest separation from the Sun – referred to as greatest elongation.
On these occasions, Venus is so bright and conspicuous that it becomes the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon.
It is often called the morning or evening star, depending on where Venus's orbit lies with the Sun.
It will now be visible in the morning, approximately up to about 4:30am before it is then lost behind the sun once again.
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Tell you what...
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Remember it's not every day you see another planet, enjoy it!
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