Reply #8: awesome photos! And an interesting observation about Venus ...

[shireen]

If you look at that image of Venus, it's not roundish. The camera is steady because the mountain silhouette and moon look sharp. That elongated shape is real. So i checked the current phase of Venus at http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/data-services/diskmap
Select the "object" and the date, then click "make image" ...

Venus is currently less than half phase. The slight over-exposure of the side that's lit up and the small size of the object makes it look elliptical in the photo.

Hey! That Nick is a cool little fella!


Here's some figures from the US Naval Observatory:

Venus phase:


And here's what's posted at http://earthsky.org/tonight