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(meteorobs) Off Topic/observing for Jonathan
Jonathan, If your parents don't like to come outside after 8:00pm, I have a challenge for you, and if you can do this it will probably just knock your parents right over........
Find Venus in the daytime and show it to them. Right now Venus can be spotted in binoculars, and if you have good eyesight, you can see it naked eye also! Look up the position for it in the current months Sky and Telescope and go for it.
The way I do this is I wait for one of those nice evenly hued deep blue skies (no clouds) to show up because it helps with the contrast of picking that "speck" of Venus out of the sky. If the sky is a soft blue, there is not enough contrast and it makes the hunt more challenging, so start out with a deep solid blue if possible.
Next I look up the position of the Sun as my starting reference, then I look up Venus and figure out the difference of distance between the two.
When I hunt I start with my 8 x 56 binoculars, which have a 6.1 degree field of view and I figure how many binocular fields west and south Venus is from the Sun.
DON'T LOOK AT THE SUN WITH YOUR BINOCULARS !!!!
Make your best estimate of where the Suns position is, again, DON'T LOOK AT IT, then sweep slowly over to where you estimated Venus to be. This takes time and is sometimes very frustrating, but once you have nailed it, you will feel like you've won a trophy. Have your binocs on a tripod for steadiness and also, if you are going to show someone it helps tremendously.
You can also do it the easy way and use setting circles, but I don't hunt Venus that way since there is no "sport" in it for me that way. Once you have spotted it in your binoculars, try naked eye.
I don't know if you've ever seen Venus in the daytime, but it looks like a shining star. It is just a shining speck in a sea of blue. COOOL.
Your parents should be duly impressed.
Oh, one other very important thing. Focus. If you do use binocs you are going to have to have them pre focused for Venus. If you have them focused for the tree in your neighbors yard, and you start looking for Venus, you can very easily pass right over it and miss. Pre focus your binocs by using the moon. This should be close enough, then don't adjust them. Use them at that setting for your hunt.
Good Luck. I know you can do this because I've guided others
(including my parents) over the phone and they have been successful.
I apologize to the rest of the post readers for this lengthy off topic subject.
Becky Schultz