Venus this morning - 26 Sep 2007

[trevboyd]

Never posted an observing report before - not sure what to say...

Got up this morning for work at 0630 and downstairs for breakfast at 0650. Looked outside and spotted Venus floating above my friendly neighbourhood streetlight. It looked really cool in a nice blue sky with a few clouds. I had planned to bring my 'scope down last night (it has to live upstairs in the office 'cos I have no space to store it downstairs) 'cos I knew it should be clear this morning, but I forgot. So off upstairs I went and must have looked funny trying to carry my 'scope and tripod down the stairs without waking my wife or 2-year old up!

Got it set up and WOW - Venus looked great at both 40x (25mm) and 100x (10mm) - lovely crisp crescent against a nice blue backdrop. Very pretty. I'd love to get a barlow to see it a bit bigger. I have a 6mm Antares coming from Warthog in Canada, so that should help.

Thought I'd have a look for Saturn while I was out, but I couldn't see it naked eye, so it was a bit hard to find. I'm going to have a look on Stellarium to judge how far it is from Venus for the next time its clear in the morning.

This might be a stupid question, but is it ever possible to see any texture/features on Venus, or is it always too bright and only appears as a flat white shape?

Thanks for reading!

Trev

[Vega]

Hi Trev

Nice report. There is something very pleasing about the Venus crescent isn't there. Unfortunately you cannot see any texture/features on Venus no-matter what size scope or what filter you use. The reason being Venus is completely engulfed in a thick layer of cloud around the planet. Not only does this cloud stop us from seeing any surface detail of the planet but it reflects an awful lot of sunlight making the planet so strikingly bright. It's so bright not even the cloud detail can be captured in photo's. I'm not complaining as there are other planets to look at for detail and it's nice to have a showpiece naked eye object at mag -4 for everyone without scopes to be wowed by.

Vega

[trevboyd]

The reason being Venus is completely engulfed in a thick layer of cloud around the planet. Not only does this cloud stop us from seeing any surface detail of the planet but it reflects an awful lot of sunlight making the planet so strikingly bright. It's so bright not even the cloud detail can be captured in photo's. I'm not complaining as there are other planets to look at for detail and it's nice to have a showpiece naked eye object at mag -4 for everyone without scopes to be wowed by.

Thanks Vega - I guessed that the heavy cloud reflected too much light, but I was just curious as to whether there were cloud bands or anything that were ever visible. I agree that it's great to have something that bright!

Trev

[themos]

I don't know if one can conjure up a filter combination (for visual) but these Venus images by Rick Schrantz are impressive.

[russ]

It's impossible to view the cloud structure visually due to the limits of the human eye and lack of sensitivity in the UV range. But it's possible to buy a Baader Venus filter and have a go at imaging Venus cloud structure with a webcam.

Good report btw.

Russ

[The Warthog]

I ahve seen faint markings on Venus, and had those sightings confirmed by other astronomers, but it ain't a big deal, and the markings aren't permanent. I usually just look to see what phase it is showing, and then go somewhere else.