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Tony Mallama is a founding member of the CVAS. His career in astronomy has resulted in over 100 scientific publications. Tony works for the Raytheon Company, is on the faculty of the University of Maryland University College, and is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Geophysical Union. |
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NEW MAGNITUDES FOR MERCURY AND VENUS Tony Mallama For many years the magnitudes of Mercury and Venus, as listed in the Astronomical Almanac and popular magazines such as Sky and Telescope, have relied upon observations that were acquired before the advent of photoelectric and CCD photometry. These data were noticeably in error near the phases of inferior and superior solar conjunctions when the planets appear very close to the Sun and are difficult to observe. Photometry obtained over the past several years from space with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and from the ground during daylight hours has measurably improved the magnitude accuracies of Mercury and Venus. Some interesting scientific findings have also resulted from these studies. Two of the journal articles appearing below describe the new magnitudes for Mercury and Venus, and the third article tells how these data have been used for predicting the magnitudes of these planets in the Astronomical Almanac. Each articles will open into a separate window. You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader software to read these files. |