It's great to see Venus back again, dazzlingly bright in the morning sky. It seems to me to be significantly brighter than it was before it disappeared from the evening sky a month ago, though this is probably illusion. It's declination is significantly further north than it was then- indicating the sun's progress back toward the equinox in the past few weeks. Spring is not far off- have you noticed the lengthening amount of daylight recently? Using a pinhole aperture (and wearing my glasses), I was JUST able to detect the thin crescent shape without magnification or further optical aid. Can anyone else see the crescent with the unaided eye? Venus is now past superior conjunction (closest to earth) and has begun to pull ahead of us in it's orbit around the sun. It will gradually gain altitude in the morning sky in coming months, while shrinking in apparent diameter telescopically, and waxing in phase. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com