Next message: Frank Reed: "Re: Venus-- Correction"
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!"
<g>
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
