VENUS 28/4/18

[mikeDnight]

A daylight observation of Venus made at 19.48UT on the 28th April. Using my Tak FC100DC at approx X200 with binoviewer, the normally subtle cloud detail was unusually obvious. This may possibly have been due to the bright sky background subduing the brilliance of Venus itself. 

In the sketch, showing an approximate 89% phase and diameter of approximately 11.3" arc, shows the often seen Y formation. With north at the top, the southern most aspect of the Y appeared darker, while the bright southern cusp had a dark band of cloud defining its edge that could be traced almost to the equator. A bright spot was seen against the southern terminator. The attached sketch is a prism view of the planet with north top and proceeding to the left. The observation was made without the use of colour filters!

[Stu]

I have no idea how you do that Mike, I have yet to see any form of detail on Venus. Nice sketch.

[Mark at Beaufort]

That is excellent Mike. It just proves what a quality scope can provide with an experienced observer. Well done 

[Ruud]

Amazing! Miraculous!

[mikeDnight]

5 minutes ago, Stu said:

I have no idea how you do that Mike, I have yet to see any form of detail on Venus. Nice sketch.

Thanks Stu!

I've no idea either, but its good to remember that the intensity of the detail in the sketch is an exaggeration. Through the scope the cloud detail is usually very subtle, and apparently some people are more sensitive to the UV than others. It might help if you try to pinpoint the brighter areas first rather than look for the smokey  wisps of cloud. A yellow, green, blue or orange filter may help, but it may also help if you use a variable polarizer just to dim the image slightly.

[MarsG76]

Thats excellent...I've seen shading on venus, but only near the terminator, any more was always only picked up by the UVenus filter.... than again I was observing at dusk, when venus was brilliant.... perhaps thats the trick to seeing more... day light observing.

 

[N3ptune]

Thanks for sharing, much better then what I could do with my Newtonian about 2 weeks ago. I tried the #47 wratten on Venus that day but I think the planet was just too low for my gear to be able to resolve anything. Your visual is impressive, the planet is so bright it looks like a small sun.

[mikeDnight]

Just now, N3ptune said:

Thanks for sharing, much better then what I could do with my Newtonian about 2 weeks ago. I tried the #47 wratten on Venus that day but I think the planet was just too low for my gear to be able to resolve anything. Your visual is impressive, the planet is so bright it looks like a small sun.

Thanks for the complement! ☺

When i observed the planet it was still relatively high and set against a blue sky, which may have made the task easier than observing it while low and set against a dark sky. 

[N3ptune]

9 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Thanks for the complement! ☺

When i observed the planet it was still relatively high and set against a blue sky, which may have made the task easier than observing it while low and set against a dark sky. 

I think so to, it was too late for me during my observation, the sky was already dark and the planet too low..  to be continued.