Two quick questions...

TxAnn posted a picture on page 4 of the Feb. 20 cam pics thread which has the moon and what appears to be Venus both reflected in the water hole. Venus would be the spot to the left of the Marula tree reflection. I don't know anything about the camera, but I do know that Venus is shining at magnitude -3.9, according to the IAAS Monthly Astronomy Newsletter that I get. If it's not a defective pixel, it's probably Venus, since Venus it the third-brightest object in the sky (behind the sun and the moon). There is something reflected to the left of the Marula tree right now (Wednesday 21st Feb 2007 | 07:08 pm at Nkorho) that looks like it could be Venus. It doesn't look bright enough to be the moon and it's moved since I've been watching it. So Venus gets my vote.

Second, right around sunset on clearer evenings, I've been able to see a fairly bright object in the sky near the horizon, and even its reflection in the pond... this wouldn't happen to be Comet McNaught, would it? It would be funny to think that I wasn't able to see it when it was visible in the northern hemisphere, but managed to see it from Africa... without leaving my house.

Thanks, and happy viewing!

Hi Tim,

It's definately not a comet. The camera does not have the sensitivity to pick up something that faint and McNaught is long gone. I doubt it can pick up Venus either and suspect you are seeing the new moon. Tonight, the sun sets at 6:29, Venus sets at 7:55, and the crescent moon will set at 9:03.

This camera has a few defective pixels in it's CCD array that look like "stars" against a black background that you may be seeing. If it's Venus, it will move toward the horizon at about 15 degrees per hour. If it's a bad pixel it will not move at all.

I'll try to watch it tonight (assuming a cloudless night) and try to figure out which it is.

That's funny, I never noticed any object. I will keep an eye on it from now on

The only reason why I suspect it might be the comet is because I first noticed it a couple of weeks after it had moved enough that it is no longer visible to northern sky watchers and was becoming visible in the southern hemisphere. Of course it could always just be Venus, as you say, but even that's pretty incredible... what great pictures via a webcam!

I'm relieved to hear that E & T have been sighted recently. I've grown to love the little feathered critters.

hi tim eand t were on a few days ago and seem to be ok and i donno about teh object in the water someone said it could be venus but you could be right too i know the other bright object is the moon