Venus Surprises in Day-time Sky Shortly After Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural

Photograph of the second Presidential Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on 1865 March 4, on the east portico of the U.S. Capitol Building, the expansion of which was nearly completed including a much more prominent dome. January 20 Inaugurations of the President of the United States did not begin until 1937, with the 1933 January 23 adoption of the 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

(Image Sources: Wikipedia.org, By Alexander Gardner - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs divisionunder the digital ID ppmsca.23718.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38086507)

By Glenn A. Walsh

Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

As we celebrate the Inauguration of the 46^th President of the United States of America, Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (second Pennsylvania native to be elected U.S. President), we remember an interesting astronomical occurrence observed by Inaugural attendees, including Abraham Lincoln, shortly after the second Inauguration of the 16^th U.S. President.

According to Chuck Bueter, writing in Nightwise.org on 2017 January 6, although clouds and rain dominated the Saturday morning of 1865 March 4, as the Inauguration ceremonies of Abraham Lincoln proceeded, the clouds parted and the planet Venus dominated a crystal-clear blue sky!

Two members of President Lincoln's body-guard detail, during the Inauguration proceedings, corroborated the sudden appearance, and notice by Inauguration attendees, of Venus in the post-Inaugural sky:

According to MrLinconsWhiteHouse.org, Sergeant Smith Stimmel wrote:

Soon after the President concluded his address, he entered his carriage, and the procession started up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, the escort from our Company following next to his carriage. Shortly after we turned onto Pennsylvania Avenue, west of the Capitol, I noticed the crowd along the street looking intently, and some were pointing to something in the heavens toward the south. I glanced up in that direction, and there in plain view, shining out in all her starlike beauty, was the planet Venus. It was a little after midday at the time I saw it, possibly near one o’clock; the sun seemed to be a little west of the meridian, the star a little east. It was a strange sight. I never saw a star at that time in the day before or since. The superstitious had had many strange notions about it, but of course it was simply owing to the peculiarly clear condition of the atmosphere and the favorable position of the planet at that time. The President and those who were with him in the carriage noticed the star at the same time.

In GilderLehrman.org, the second body-guard added:

When Mr. Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address, I had the privilege of standing within twenty feet of him....It had rained a great deal during the forenoon, and clouds overcast the sky as the presidential party and the Senate came out on the east portico. While the ceremonies were in progress the clouds suddenly parted, and, although it was about midday, Venus was seen clearly shining in the blue sky. The attention of the immense throng was directed to it.

Even famous poet Walt Whitman, then covering the Inauguration for The New York Times, mentioned the Venus appearance in his news report.

In his book, Celestial Sleuth: Using Astronomy to Solve Mysteries in Art, History and Literature, Donald W. Olson gives possible explanations why Venus would have been so noticeable on that special day in American history. He argues that the morning rains may have cleansed the Washington sky of city air pollution, allowing Venus to appear brighter in the afternoon sky.

He also notes that, at that particular time of the year, Venus was near maximum elongation, meaning that the planet's distance in the sky from the Sun was nearly the farthest possible. The Sun's glare would have made it more difficult to see Venus in the day-time sky, if the Sun and Venus had appeared closer in the sky.

Viewing Venus in the day-time sky with naked-eyes (one-power) is possible for anyone. However, the sky has to be clear and deep-blue with good astronomical seeing (steadiness of the air), and it is best if Venus is far from the Sun as viewed in the sky. And, usually, you need to know where to look in the sky for Venus, as it is very rarely obvious to naked-eyes in the day-time sky, as it was on that day in 1865.

If you try to find Venus in the day-time sky using binoculars or a telescope, BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO ACCIDENTALLY AIM THE BINOCULARS OR TELESCOPE AT THE SUN! LOOKING AT THE SUN WITH BINOCULARS OR A TELESCOPE COULD CAUSE MAJOR EYE DAMAGE AND POSSIBLE BLINDNESS !!!

During President Lincoln's second Inauguration, the President delivered, what many people consider, one of his best speeches. This address, which historian Mark Noll places "among the small handful of semi-sacred texts by which Americans conceive their place in the world," is inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

It was a little more than a month later, at 7:22 a.m. on 1865 April 15, that Abraham Lincoln died from a gun-shot wound suffered the previous evening at Washington's Ford's Theatre. This was just six days after the American Civil War came to a conclusion, with the victory of the Union Army at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia.

Internet Links to Additional Information ---

 "Looking Up At The Inauguration" (Nightwise.org): Link >>> https://www.nightwise.org/single-post/2017/01/06/Looking-Up-At-The-Inauguration

1864 U.S. Presidential Election: Link >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1864_United_States_presidential_election 

Abraham Lincoln: Link >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln 

Related Blog Posts ---

 

"Science & U.S. Presidents." Mon. 2020 Feb. 17.

Link >>> https://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2020/02/science-us-presidents.html

 

"Presidents' Day: The Astronomy President." Mon., 2014 Feb. 17.

Link >>> https://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2014/02/presidents-day-astronomy-president.html

 

"JFK: Loss of the Man Who Sent Us to the Moon." Fri., 2013 Nov. 22.

Link >>> https://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/11/jfk-loss-of-man-who-sent-us-to-moon.html

Source: Glenn A. Walsh Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss.

                 Wednesday, 2021 January 20.

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gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Informal Science Educator & Communicator:
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/weblog/spacewatchtower/gaw/
Electronic Mail: < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
Project Director, Friends of the Zeiss: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/
SpaceWatchtower Editor / Author: Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/
Formerly Astronomical Observatory Coordinator & Planetarium Lecturer, original Buhl Planetarium & Institute of Popular Science (a.k.a. Buhl Science Center), Pittsburgh's science & technology museum from 1939 to 1991.
Formerly Trustee, Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, Pittsburgh suburb of Carnegie, Pennsylvania.
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh: Link >>>  http://www.planetarium.cc  Buhl Observatory: Link >>>  http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2016/11/75th-anniversary-americas-5th-public.html
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago: Link >>> http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear: Link >>> http://johnbrashear.tripod.com
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries: Link >>> http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc