Elongation Measurement - possible methods
To appreciate the changing elongation of Venus fully - one needs observations spanning a few months centered around the dates of the maximum elongation. For someone starting now, this may not be possible to do for the March 29 2004 maximum elongation - one could still appreciate the decreasing elongation from the month of March to April and May, however. A couple of weeks before and after the date of the maximum elongation, it would be difficult to notice much change in the elongation, with simple measurements.
We have one long term measurement project undertaken by a fruitseller - only Venus Altitude measurements - but, this has been a very fruitful excercise and the results will be uploaded here.
The August maximum elongation and those of the years from now to 2012 give a possibility of long term elongation measurements as very worthwhile student projects.
The following methods could be used for estimation of elongation of Venus - the links will be updated soon - please keep checking.
Method 0 - Some rough estimates - just for
fun!
Method 1 - Direct angle measurement
Method 2 - Another exciting direct angle measurement - using the rotation of
the Earth.
Method 3 - Brute force - road roller method - needs
some complicated mathematics!
Method 4 - If all else fails and you have the patience
for more complicated mathematics :-)