Astronomy Question: Distance Between Venus and Earth?
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Yolanda asks:
Earth is 93 million miles from the sun. When Venus is on the opposite side of the
sun from Earth, it’s about 69 million from the sun. What’s the distance from Earth to Venus?
Great question Yolanda!
At first glance, it would seem the answer is 24 million miles at the closest, and 162 million at the most distant, however, all planets have elliptical orbits, and as such, the numbers often quoted for orbits are “average”, which would make the orbits an idealized circular orbit. In reality, these numbers vary from between 25.4 million miles and 23.7 million miles at closest approach to Earth.
One of the reasons Venus is such a bright “star” is it is our closest planetary neighbor in the solar system, closer to us than even Mars. You can even see Venus in broad daylight if you have good eyesight and clear skies. In the example image below, you can see the lines denoting the orbits of planets in the inner solar system.
If you look closely, you’ll see that Earth and Venus are just past being at their closest to each other. Earlier this year, Venus was at it’s brightest, however, even through a telescope, you would have only seen a very large “crescent”, as Venus displays “phases”, in a similar manner to our Moon. You can read more about this phenomenon at this UCLA page: http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~huffman/venus.htm
Ray Sanders is a Sci-Fi geek, astronomer and blogger. Currently researching variable stars at Arizona State University, he writes for Universe Today, The Planetary Society blog, and his own blog, Dear Astronomer
2012-12-04 08:05:29
Source: http://www.dearastronomer.com/2010/12/28/distance-between-venus-and-earth/
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