A quiz for you…
One of these images is of the Moon on 2 Feb 2017. The other image is of Venus on 3 Feb. Can you tell which is which? What is your reasoning?
Our View From Iowa
observations from Jim and Melanie
A quiz for you…
One of these images is of the Moon on 2 Feb 2017. The other image is of Venus on 3 Feb. Can you tell which is which? What is your reasoning?
Our View From Iowa 
Honestly? I don’t have a clue, because I could argue in either direction. But, I’m going to say the top photo is Venus, and the bottom one the moon. As I recall, Venus has been visible around sundown, so there’s the sky color. The smaller size could be an optical illusion, but the second photo seems crisper. Since the moon is closer, that makes sense.
By the way, the email for your re-post just arrived, with a lag time of about a half-hour. WP knows about the issue, and is working on it. 🙂
You are correct. Good deductions.
Yea, me!
I’m guessing the one with the blue background is the moon. The moon is visible in the daytime on a clear day, so blue would be the sky, something I don’t think would be visible in an astronomical telescope.
Actually, the top one is of Venus. It has been setting well after the sun lately. On a clear day it is pretty easy to spot it in broad daylight. Thanks for trying, Jim.
After reading both comments, seem to agree with them, however prior to reading comments, favored the black image as the moon due to the circumference size…just seems larger…but they both look like the moon…wow..
The top one is of Venus. It is setting well after the sun and is visible during the daytime hours. Thanks for giving it a try.
Okay, my instant reaction was Venus was the day picture. Then I rethought and decided I was basing it on the clarity of the bottom image, thinking the clear image was the moon which is faulty because the blur in the top image could have been from motion or haze.
So, I decided to cheat…or be thorough and I googled it…so, without saying either way…I changed my original answer. 😉 Am I clever, lazy or brilliant? 😀
Are you all of the above…clever, lazy, and brilliant? 🙂
The top one is Venus. Is that what you finally decided?
Nope…guess I was lazy. I even tried to find the link I Googled…and can’t. Sounds like one of your students, eh?
Yup