Venus and Mercury

[StarSapling]

Got the scope on Venus and Mercury as soon as I could pick them out of the evening sky.

4/27/2015 - Oracle, Arizona - seeing good - transparency good - observer good

90mm f10 refractor

Venus:

142x - green filter - Just a little larger than quarter phase - Glimpses of very vague and subtle dusky patches, too subtle to declare shapes - Dusky markings appeared to be more pronounced near southern cusp making it stand out as being brighter than surrounding area - Southern cusp also noticeably blunter than northern cusp.

Mercury:

182x - green filter - A much smaller version of Venus, showing nearly the same phase - No albedo features detectable - Green filter really seemed to reduce CA and sharpen up the image.

A few years back I was able to locate Mercury in the daytime sky near the zenith and was actually able to observe some albedo features.  I've never been able to do that observing Mercury in the morning or evening skies.  I guess I could locate Mercury in the dawn sky, during a western elongation, and spend a few hours following it up into the daytime sky.

[alan potts]

Very nice report

I had the 12 inch LX on Mercury about 6 nights back, it is never going to be wonderful always being low. I only once ever saw it in a sky that was semi dark and then I was in Indonesia and one of the better places to see the small world looking out to sea, though i did not have a scope with me.

I can't say it looked too good through the 12 inch though I could see the phase easily enough, looked a Mars near by and that looked even more remote and somewhat smaller than Mercury.

Alan

[Special K]

Excellent results! Interesting to hear about the green filter usage too. Venus has been quite remarkable this time around and so high up in the sky..........for Venus! Even naked eye it's been a treat.