Venus, Tak FC 100 DL, mikeDnight fits a Bath-trap !!!

[paulastro]

Mike came round this afternoon to fit a bath-trap for me - prompted by water coming through my hall ceiling.  Amazingly, I no longer get wet standing in the hall!  Anyway, the sun came out and we decided to try and find Venus in a tripod mounted pair of Nikon 10x50s.  To be more accurate Mike did the searching, and making sure the sun was behind my garage, he picked up Venus at 2.55 pm in the binocs.  Wow, what a piece of searching that was.  A beautifully formed small crescent smiling down on us.  One of those eureka moments. 

As it happened, there was the newly acquired Takahashi FC 100 DL indoors in the living room on my AZ4.  Of course!  We couldn't resist trying to find Venus in the Tak - what a first light that would be.  The scope was hurriedly set up by the garage behind the house.  Mike commenced searching in the Tak, but the finder being only 30mm aperture and a bright sun nearby, I was a little dubious.  I should have had more faith in Mikes ability and tenacity, having observed with him many times.  At 3.12pm Mike duly scooped up Venus in the Tak, fitted with a 32mm Erfle giving x28 magnification.  An even bigger whoop from both of us seeing a larger version of the beautifully slender crescent, as steady as a rock.  Mike cried out in his excitement " crikey Bobs, that's good ".  No, I don't know what this means either, but you may if you come from Lancashire.

At 3.20pm I quickiy fitted the Baader Mk111 zoom, set at 8mm, and we had wonderful views at x113.  The finest view of Venus, certainly  the smallest crescent phase of Venus I've ever seen, words couldn't describe how wonderful it looked. All beautiful,  steady and a pure a view as you could wish to have.  The smiles of Mike and myself matched the Venus crescent smiling down on us.

The data, from Sky Portal, for Venus at 3.00 pm was:  m-4.1, 58.8" and 1.9% illumination.  Venus was at an azimuth of 237 degrees, and altitude of 34 degrees.

What a wonderful first light, a memory and observation to treasure.  For those interested, of course the view was much much better than it would have been in Mikes FC 100 DC, but please don't tell him that I told you .

With profuse apologies to all, I've attached a few photos.  I'm the good looking one in the cap.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

[faulksy]

that is brilliant finding venus in the daytime. nice one mike

please cover your number plate up

mike

[JeremyS]

Congratulations Paul and Mike. Persistence certainly pays off!

Jeremy

[mikeDnight]

Paul,

I didn't like to say at the time but that was the worst blue fringing I've ever seen. It filled the field! I suppose it could have been the blue sky, but I prefer to believe its your inferior DL. Other than that, it was as sharp as sharp gets! 

There is definitely something to be said for observing Venus in daylight and while its high in the sky. There was virtually no turbulence to contend with, which was an absolute dream! What a fantastic view, and one that I'll never forget! It's good being crazy!

Mike

 

[John]

Great report and sketch chaps !

I've just caught Venus (still at 1.9% illumination !) and Mercury with my 11x70 binoculars. Much easier to find than in the middle of the afternoon like you guys did. Not a sketch but a cheat using Virtual Planet Atlas:

 

[paulastro]

4 minutes ago, John said:

Great report and sketch chaps !

I've just caught Venus (still at 1.9% illumination !) and Mercury with my 11x70 binoculars. Much easier to find than in the middle of the afternoon like you guys did. Not a sketch but a cheat using Virtual Planet Atlas:

 

I thought it was a bit late to be observing Venus John .  What is Virtual Planet Atlas and where can you get it?  I think that 'drawing' is excellent, unlike my own.  I'm afraid hanging around with Mike hasn't done me any good in that respect , I thought his skill might be catching.

[John]

Here you go:

http://www.ap-i.net/avp/en/start

The current version covers Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter plus the 4 Gallilean moons.

[paulastro]

Many thanks John

[Chris]

Fantastic scope, first light, and write up!  

[jabeoo1]

Thats a great little story guys, nice one !  Nice scope by the way (Mikes fault I have the DF)....Not too shoddy are they? 

I will have to do some daytime hunting, not something I really consider to be honest. 

[mikeDnight]

27 minutes ago, jabeoo1 said:

Thats a great little story guys, nice one !  Nice scope by the way (Mikes fault I have the DF)....Not too shoddy are they? 

I will have to do some daytime hunting, not something I really consider to be honest. 

As long as the Sun is hidden below a roofline or behind a wall you'll be safe. Venus in daylight is a wonderful sight at the moment and you won't regret the effort. Finding it first in binoculars and then once you know its position, again in the telescope is easy. Just make sure the scopes focuser is set at infinity as its hard to find focus against a blue sky.

Mike ?

[paulastro]

I would add to Mikes comments that it's also important the finder is accurately focussed at infinity too - otherwise you'll find it difficult to get Venus it in the field of the main scope anyway.  Of course you can scan for Venus in the main scope itself, but you'd probably need a shorter focal length then 900mm to give yourself a reasonably wide view to work with.

It is also more difficult in some ways in a cloudless sky, as it's difficult to focus your eyes on infinity if you are just looking at a blue patch of sky with no hind of cloud or con trail.  Some people manage it better than others.