The evenings of the 21st and 22nd Venus will be just under 1.5 degrees from Venus. Weather permitting Uranus at mag. 5.9 should be easily visible in even smallish binoculars. patrick On 18 Jan 2009, at 16:40, Canopus56 wrote:

The 2009 RASC Handbook indicates that Venus passed maximum elongation on Jan. 15 and is now heading back towards the Sun. For those wanting to brave the cold, favorable conditions for taking an image of Venus will lessen over the next month. - Kurt

Venus is a toughie. When at max elongation, it's not very large and a rather boring half phase, but it is as high as it gets and out of the soup. If you want it large and a thin crescent, you will have to hope for exceptionally good seeing before and after superior conjunction. But all is not lost. For a brief period after sunset, the atmosphere is very steady, but only for a 15-20 minute period, from my experience. Then seeing deteriorates quickly. On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 4:40 PM, Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:

The 2009 RASC Handbook indicates that Venus passed maximum elongation on Jan. 15 and is now heading back towards the Sun. For those wanting to brave the cold, favorable conditions for taking an image of Venus will lessen over the next month. - Kurt