The Moon and Venus Jan 2017

The Moon and Venus were really clear in the sky yesterday evening. It was difficult to take a photo as both were behind tree branches and it was too cold/I was too lazy to go out for a better shot!

from schoolsobservatory.org

Venus is the second brightest object in the sky after the Moon. The Moon is currently between new and the first quarter, which is called a Waxing Crescent. It is close to the sun in the sky.

Venus is close to the sun and doesn't rise far above the horizon. It's been seen to appear to twinkle recently, this is just due to the light passing through a thicker amount of the Earth's atmosphere than when it's higher in the sky. So it is the atmospheric conditions that make planets seem to twinkle.

During January, Venus will reach its peak height above the horizon, according to the Beckstrom Observatory. It will also see the distance between Mars and Venus get smaller as Venus gets higher each night.
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The moon 2 evenings later at 4 pm, without Venus -