Early Saturday morning at about 6:00am December 18, 2010, happened to be out and see Venus very bright and high in the eastern sky. Had never seen Venus so unusually bright, especially here in Boston with all the light pollution.
Many things seemed to be "just so" for this.
- It was a cloud free and cold morning.
- Winter seeing tends to be better than summer - espcially near the ocean or other large bodies of water which generate humidity.
Venus is near greatest brilliancy the first week of December 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspects_of_Venus
Saturday morning probably had a greater number of city lights out around Boston.
Venus is very far above the eastern horizon (Its height in sky and phase are closely related.) in darker regions of the sky. And this is enhanced due to the earth's axis being maximally tilted due to closeness to winter solstice (first day of winter, longest day of year).
Maybe more significant, early morning December 21, 2010 was a total lunar eclipse on the winter solstice, which only happens every 372 years, and thus last happened in 1638... Galileo's time.
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