Viewing Venus recently, so BRIGHT!!

[wesdon1]

My goodness Venus is so bright at the moment!! I've been catching her as she sets, chasing after the setting sun. I'm awe struck by how much light she is reflecting off Sun!! So so BRIGHT!! Anyone who hasn't seen her through a 'scope would be well advised to catch her while she's currently easy to see as Sun sets. You will also catch a look at Jupiter, though it's super low and it isn't viewable for very long, but again around sunset. Any newbies wanting to see her, she looks like a big bright star low on horizon following the setting Sun, roughly SSE or there'abouts, from about 4:15pm"ish" onwards. It's beautiful ! 

[DaveL59]

sadly for me jupiter and venus are behind the oak tree at this time of day and too low so disappearing behind the trees in the distance too. The moon is looking nice at the moment against the blue sky, to time outside at the mo ain't great with the cold air and a healing root extraction lol

[wesdon1]

22 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

sadly for me jupiter and venus are behind the oak tree at this time of day and too low so disappearing behind the trees in the distance too. The moon is looking nice at the moment against the blue sky, to time outside at the mo ain't great with the cold air and a healing root extraction lol

awww such a shame! I hate it when trees get in the way! then those damn street lights ruining your veiws aswell! I've seriousely considered "Accidentally" cutting the power to street lights near my home! lol

[DaveL59]

lol am lucky with street lights in the back garden as that's reasonably dark but get what you mean. The tree, well its not far off the end of the garden so encroaches a lot unfortunately, but it is what it is... attracts a nice variety of birds so can't complain  

[joe aguiar]

agree most people think mars is the closest planet BUT its not its Venus. 

and venus is about the same size as earth where  mars is only half as big and about 1/3 further away (depending on the orbit)

the only reason we don't see mercury and venus cause its only available close to sunset or 6 months later before sunrise. I would think to most 1 to 2 hours before sunrise is extra hard to wake up to view then to go back to sleep or just go to work .

its much easier when its on the other side after sunset BUt if you don't have a clear west view then that messys up that too. where mars being outside our orbit it available like 6 months a year and it crosses the whole sky making seeing this planet much easier then mercury or Venus.

joejaguar

[Geoff Lister]

I read somewhere that there have been several occasions where flight crew have confused Venus with the headlight of an aircraft on a converging course, and have considered taking avoiding action.

Geoff

[Stu]

Just seen on a FB group that Saturn is very close to Venus on Wednesday afternoon, under 2 degrees at its closest. You will need a decent South Western horizon obviously.

[Paz]

I haven't thought about Venus for quite a while, I will try and spot it this time around. The best views I've had of Venus have been when it's still daylight and Venus can barely be seen naked eye.

[wesdon1]

On 07/12/2019 at 17:16, Geoff Lister said:

I read somewhere that there have been several occasions where flight crew have confused Venus with the headlight of an aircraft on a converging course, and have considered taking avoiding action.

Geoff

my goodness that dosen't surprise me at all! But is kinda funny when you think about it! lol

 

[wesdon1]

On 07/12/2019 at 19:22, Paz said:

I haven't thought about Venus for quite a while, I will try and spot it this time around. The best views I've had of Venus have been when it's still daylight and Venus can barely be seen naked eye.

That's a good point actually! I assume the theory being that when it's barely visable to naked eye, you will get less glare and see more planetary detail when veiwing through telescope ? Intersteing? I shall bare this in mind for future! Thanks!

Edited January 2, 2020 by wesdon1

[joe aguiar]

3 minutes ago, wesdon1 said:

my goodness that dosen't surprise me at all! But is kinda funny when you think about it! lol

 

I also heard many times regular people in the past have also confused venus with a alien ship and called 911, and I got that from discovery channel or history channel before when I watched some astro progams. haha

joejaguar

[DeanCJ]

On 07/12/2019 at 17:16, Geoff Lister said:

I read somewhere that there have been several occasions where flight crew have confused Venus with the headlight of an aircraft on a converging course, and have considered taking avoiding action.

Geoff

I can believe that!! roughly two weeks ago I was out walking my dogs early evening when I saw what I thought was an aircraft with its landing lights on, as the closest airport to me is Doncaster, roughly ten miles away, I genuinely thought an airplane was going to crash on top of me, after two or three minutes of it not moving I really felt quite stupid. When I got home I immediately got SkySafari on my phone only to find it was Venus, as I still class myself as a beginner I quickly forgave myself for not knowing, although I did tell my wife and she found it somewhat amusing.

[SimM]

On 03/12/2019 at 14:42, wesdon1 said:

My goodness Venus is so bright at the moment!! I've been catching her as she sets, chasing after the setting sun. I'm awe struck by how much light she is reflecting off Sun!! So so BRIGHT!!

If it's too bright, would a ND filter help reduce the glare? Anything that makes you a little uncomfortable can disturb your ability to resolve some of the details.

[Barry-W-Fenner]

I just acquired a visual polarising filter. I look forward to using it on Venus when the sky clears. I am hoping having the ability to adjust contrast will help reduce glare and show just the disc.

 

Baz

[wesdon1]

17 hours ago, SimM said:

If it's too bright, would a ND filter help reduce the glare? Anything that makes you a little uncomfortable can disturb your ability to resolve some of the details.

yes i believe that would help. By reducing glare, i managed to see more detail/phase/ 

[Barry-W-Fenner]

17 hours ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

I just acquired a visual polarising filter. I look forward to using it on Venus when the sky clears. I am hoping having the ability to adjust contrast will help reduce glare and show just the disc.

 

Baz

I used the filter tonight briefly around 7pm on Venus, I was very impressed with its performance. It took away most of the glare and I could see the planets disc very clearly. I am very happy with this purchase and look forward to using it on other planets.

Baz

[DamienBoath]

We are in daylight savings here in Adelaide, and Venus is crazy bright. It stays up around 8pm for an hour or two just as the sun is setting. We only just received some filters, so might try tonight if it's not too cloudy. In the telescope it just appears as a super bright dot.

Damien

[Barry-W-Fenner]

My father inlaw was round last night and we were fortunate enough to get a couple of clear hours. Very windy out but good seeing.  We both really enjoyed viewing Venus and it was great to show him, it's always nice to see the surprise on other people's faces when they see these object.  The moon was stunning also.