Venus 20th Jan 2017

[lukebl]

Hi folks,

Here's another of my captures of Venus, using the Baader U-filter. 1500 x 1/10 second frames captured with a QHY5-II and stacked in Registax. 250mm f/4.8 Newtonian and 3x TV Barlow.

I was a bit surprised that the details seem noticeably different from my captures yesterday, considering the planet has a rotation period of 243 days.  But then I read that the entire atmosphere rotates around the planet every 4 days!

 

[Moonshane]

These results are really spectacular. Can this filter be used with big aperture dobs?

[lukebl]

8 minutes ago, Moonshane said:

These results are really spectacular. Can this filter be used with big aperture dobs?

I fear not. They let through so little visible light that you can only see anything with relatively long camera exposures.

Edited January 20, 2017 by lukebl

[orion25]

Wow!  To get any detail at all on Venus is quite an accomplishment! 

Congratulations!

Reggie

[lukebl]

Had a bit of a re-process and added some false colour, which makes it look a bit more real to me.

Now it really does look like earth's twin

 

[laudropb]

Very nice images.

[Mr Spock]

Tremendous cloud detail. Your combination is working really well.

[CraigT82]

Fantastic image! That filter is quite expensive... perhaps you'd like to rent it out to fellow imagers!

[lukebl]

1 hour ago, CraigT82 said:

...That filter is quite expensive... perhaps you'd like to rent it out to fellow imagers!

That's a plan. I bought the filter on a whim a few years back when I was feeling flush, and I've used it about three times since then! Just seen how much they cost nowadays. That's a lot for a piece of kit which has very limited use, on only one subject.

I do think that Venus is sorely neglected. Hardly any probes have gone there, and few people (me included) bother to regularly capture it. Given that the atmosphere rotates round the entire planet every four days, it should be possible to capture an animated sequence of the clouds. There's a challenge for someone.

[Pete Presland]

Tremendous image, some very nice subtle detail showing there.

[U Cyg]

Nice cloud detail, great image.

Angie