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Venus looking very nice tonight - 21st Jan 2017


Stu

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I popped the Vixen 102 f9 out this evening on the Vixen GP mount. Very nice to have the two of them together.

Anyway, the only target around was Venus so I've been having a decent look at it for once, not often I spend any time on it as I find it fairly unrewarding.

It was still shimmering around a fair amount, and showing some atmospheric CA but overall it was looking good. The phase has passed 50% now, actually just checked and it is 46%. I noticed that where the terminator approaches the limb there is a kind of hook, rather than being a smooth curve. Not noticed that before. The 'terminator' if that's what you call it on Venus ;) looked very slightly ragged to me. Outside that I could not really detect any surface detail, possibly the very slightest of variations but equally possibly not!

Hopefully it will be able to pop out later and have a look at a few other targets, but that's all for now. Scope frosting up nicely already!

EDIT I need to make a properly fitting dew shield for it, but it actually works very well tucked into the scope dew shield like that. That black one fits the Tak perfectly.

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...I too was out a little while ago, and noted the frosting on the cars, and house roof tops across the street but the street lighting is more of an issue for me tonight, I'd love to set up the 8" scope. Venus is in a great position for me if it were not for the street light across the road.

I might nip out later though, try again somewhere, but Venus may have set by then.

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13 minutes ago, Charic said:

...I too was out a little while ago, and noted the frosting on the cars, and house roof tops across the street but the street lighting is more of an issue for me tonight, I'd love to set up the 8" scope. Venus is in a great position for me if it were not for the street light across the road.

I might nip out later though, try again somewhere, but Venus may have set by then.

I wouldn't have thought a street light would cause much of an issue for Venus? It's so bright!!

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Nice little report Stu :smiley:

Lovely clear day here but the evening has bought cloud so probably no frost and definitely no viewing :rolleyes2:

I'm sure you are right about the streetlight not affecting Venus much. Some ambient light might actually improve things.

 

 

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Are there any filters which are suited to enhancing surface detail on Venus? I almost felt like I was seeing something but really nothing I could describe, so probably not there at all!

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26 minutes ago, Stu said:

Venus? It's so bright!!

....I see why you came back with that :icon_biggrin: I worded it so wrong :hmh: no issues seeing Venus.
I'm desperate to get the scope out proper, test my Delos ( especially away from home )  and  compare all my 6mm EPs from a darker site, see more galaxies around Ursa major ( street lighting does not allow from the garden).
Its only 1°C outside at the moment, feels like -10° but throughout most of the day its just felt so cold but we had lovely clear blue skies earlier, and whats up there now is contrasting between good and poor seeing,  so as much as I'd like to go out, its probably unlikely with the scope tonight.

I should make more effort to get everything packed into a car and drive away somewhere?  Ultimately,  I just  need a darker site  for observing without having to constantly  hide in the shadows, protecting  my dark adapted vision,  and a scope that  still has  to peer through the light pollution. A street light power-cut would do the business!

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3 minutes ago, Charic said:

....I see why you came back with that :icon_biggrin: I worded it so wrong :hmh: no issues seeing Venus.
I'm desperate to get the scope out proper, test my Delos ( especially away from home )  and  compare all my 6mm EPs from a darker site, see more galaxies around Ursa major ( street lighting does not allow from the garden).
Its only 1°C outside at the moment, feels like -10° but throughout most of the day its just felt so cold but we had lovely clear blue skies earlier, and whats up there now is contrasting between good and poor seeing,  so as much as I'd like to go out, its probably unlikely with the scope tonight.

I should make more effort to get everything packed into a car and drive away somewhere?  Ultimately,  I just  need a darker site  for observing without having to constantly  hide in the shadows, protecting  my dark adapted vision,  and a scope that  still has  to peer through the light pollution. A street light power-cut would do the business!

LP is always a frustration, but is suspect yours at its worst is probably still better than I ever get to observe in, with one or two exceptions.

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I  managed to get the scope out  after work,  with Venus almost in the perfect position for some observing?
My sky is very limited to what I can see from the back garden,  street lighting and obstructions are the  main  issue, and I have never been away from the house with the  sole intention of just looking at/for any Planets?

So I aim the finder at  Venus,  but the image with  the 6mm Revelation is out of focus,  allowing me to  quickly check collimation ( seems spot on ) as  the scope has not cooled for long! but in-focus, wow! I have NEVER seen Venus at high magnification before, only visually as a 'Bright Star'? or with binoculars, ( again, bright Star - no detail ? ) but tonight, it was like looking at the Moon, only much further away, and the crescent feature was oh-so clearly visible, my word! I thought all I would ever see was just more bright light and  more sparkle at the higher powers that  my scope can supply.

Its  407 Years since Galileo Galilei first recorded his telescopic observation, I can honestly say, this is my first proper observation of Venus  and  it blew me away!  It was not what I expected to see? Despite what I may have read in the past, and/or  forgotten, I  really did not think that I would see any shape, form,  phase, anything, being that Venus is obscured by clouds. I had to share this new found attraction in the sky, and  Mrs Charic seemed more impressed with this one than she did when she first observed M31 ( which is a very poor image from this garden observatory). She's not yet been  to the dark site! 

Not forgetting  Mars, no  surface details , but sufficiently sharp enough to make out that it actually is a Planet and the colour was notable.

I used my Revelation Plössl's first,  6-32mm  then the Delois, then the Baader. I even tried to image with the mobile and DSLR, but nothing to show really!
The sharpest image tonight came from my 12mm Starguider, the 10mm Delos gave the widest view, allowing just a little  more time to look without moving the scope, inducing any shake. The 3.2mm and 5mm were too much magnification.

My  telescope observation count increased by One session and I  bagged two Planets. Jupiter still takes pride of place from memory. Looking forward to viewing the next Planet?
 

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Nice, Charic....I felt the same last year, the first time that I saw Venus  'close-up' (well, ish).

I never expected to see shape and phase, and even some hint of shading...my socks blew down!

Sadly, she's just too much a bad-hair mess for me lately - too close to my neighbour's heat-belching rooftop. But even so, I thought I caught a glimpse of phase behind the crawlies the other evening with my little ST80.

And a lovely report Stu! I really must stop being so lazy and get out there...thanks for some much-needed inspiration :)

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On 1/21/2017 at 18:03, Stu said:

 

. The 'terminator' if that's what you call it on Venus ;) looked very slightly ragged to me.

Hmm. I've noticed this effect before, including last night. I'm never sure if it's genuine from slight cloud height effects on the planet, or an optical illusion at the scope end. Certainly, like the faint shadow markings, a blue filter seems to enhance it slightly.

Chris

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I've noticed the uneven brightness along the Venusian terminator as well. Brighter cusps as well. These seem to combine to make the terminator appear not to be a smooth curve. I've seen slight variations in the brightness of the illuminated portion of the planet but it's very hard to tie these down enough to be sure that they are not my eye playing tricks.

 

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1 hour ago, John said:

I've noticed the uneven brightness along the Venusian terminator as well. Brighter cusps as well. These seem to combine to make the terminator appear not to be a smooth curve. I've seen slight variations in the brightness of the illuminated portion of the planet but it's very hard to tie these down enough to be sure that they are not my eye playing tricks.

 

The drawing of Venus on p63 of this week's Astronomy Now certainly shows a ragged terminator, although I've not seen it in many images....?

Chris

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