Along with chilly air, February 2011 brings a good opportunity to view the planet Venus in the morning sky.  Don Darnell of Alberta, Canada, exhorts us to bundle up and enjoy this brilliant celestial target, whether with binoculars, a telescope, or just the naked eye.   Venus appears to grow from a crescent phase to a chubbier gibbous phase, vastly outshining its background stars.  In June 2012, the goddess Venus comes around again, this time passing directly in front of the sun for a rare transit of Venus.

Read article: Seeking Goddess for Instant Astronomical Gratification (PDF)