Venus Valentine

I thought that since it's Valentine's Day, I'd show you this really cool picture I found on www.spaceweather.com - it's not really weather - but a lot of people associate astronomy with meteorology(probably not the best idea to have the "study of weather" start with "meteor" - thus where the confusion begins I'm sure... ) Anyway... it's a Morse code message from the planet Venus... or from astronomy professor Jimmy Westlake - Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat Springs, CO. The way he took this picture was pretty neat - if he would have let his camera just sit there the entire time you would be able to see just a straight streak showing Venus "setting" somewhat like the sun would. But the way Prof. Westlake took the picture enabled the Morse Code message to be shown. This is his "formula" to take this picture: "the 'dots' were 30-second exposures and the 'dashes' were 3-minute exposures" And if you don't know Morse Code - here's how to figure out what "Venus's Valentine" says:

.. I

.-.. L
--- O
...- V
. E

-.-- Y
--- O
..- U

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you love the weather :)

~KDLT Meteorologist Jesse Ritka