A friend asks what the strikingly bright light might be that he had seen on two recent mornings around five-thirty, above the east point on the horizon. A plane, a satellite? – no, it didn’t move, and binoculars did not enlarge it. “A heavenly body known to astrophiliacs like yourself?”
A heavenly body indeed: Venus.
See the end note about enlarging illustrations. Arrows through the moving bodies show their movement (against the starry background) from 2 days earlier to 2 days later. The Moon is exaggerated 4 times in size.
Just below Venus you may discern, if your sky is dark and clear enough, the star Regulus.
Higher up is the second brightest planet, Jupiter, with the decrescent Moon passing it.
We’ll look forward to the close gathering of Moon, Venus, and Regulus on September 19.
Home planet department
From our balcony on the south bank of the Thames we look out on human constellations: flows of pedestrians in both directions, tourists, school parties. The space before the Thames Clipper landing dock serves as a stage for events like this, a performance of traditional Morris dancing on July 5:
A couple of mornings ago, the scene was less pleasant: littered with trash, including plenty of broken glass, left by a parade of demonstrators, who used this route from London Bridge station to Whitehall.
They were followers of the rabble-rouser Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”).
Staff at one of the restaurants along the front told us that the trash was cleaned away with incredible speed. Those who are willing to do this kind of work are typically the immigrants whom the racists want deported.
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This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
ILLUSTRATIONS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format. You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor.
One way: right-click, and choose ”View image” or ”Open image in new tab”, then enlarge. Or choose ”Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it. On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers). Other methods have been suggested, such as dragging the image to the desktop and opening it in other ways.
Sometimes I make improvements or corrections to a post after publishing it. If you click on the title, rather than on ‘Read more’, I think you are sure to see the latest version. Or, if you click ‘Refresh’ or press function key 5, you’ll see the latest version.
Here is what the morning scene looked like on September 15 from Virginia:
http://www.starvergnuegen.com/astropix/2025/09_september/2025_09_15_venus_c.html
Our forecast for the 19th is good, so I am hoping to get a good shot of the Moon – Venus – Regulus conjunction!
I’m not a racist, I hate everyone.
On a serious note, I heard that Muslim couples in England and Europe have 8 children whereas the natives average only 1.5 children.. And many of the refugees want Sharia law. I have nothing against immigrants legally seeking refuge for a better life, but they should assimilate, not conquer.
Statistics we found were 4.3 and 1.8 (vs your 8 and 1.5). When I was in Morocco, I was told that many young men never manage to marry at all.
My philosophy differs from yours. I used to call it Varietism. I do not want immigrants to assimilate. A place like London is liverlier than a rural village (which in other ways I like) because we see human variety. People have the right to retain their culture, religion costume, language – and to me it is beautiful when they do so – but the duty to obey the rights-based laws of the country they settle in.
Variety is the catalyst of so many kinds of advances, fertilizations of ideas. The USA is the achievement of immigrants.
Always so nice to hear from you, Guy. Always so insightful.