Can someone confirm my Venus observation??

[Victor Boesen]

I've just returned from a session on Venus with my good old 10" dob which hasn't seen much use lately. I'm gonna be completely honest and say I have actually considered if I should sell it but I'm not gonna think that again after today

The sharpness of the dob remains superior over any other telescope I've looked through and observing Venus I, for the first time ever, noticed what looked like cloud details on the planet. I studied the planet for half an hour and eventually made a sketch showing the detail I could see. I do however want someone to verify what I've seen since I don't quite believe it yet:)))

I'm really happy that I had a chance to use the dob again and I'm very excited to hopefully, start using it a little more.

Clear skies!

Victor

[Stu]

@mikeDnightis your man for Venus cloud details!

Nice sketch by the way.

[Victor Boesen]

Just now, Stu said:

@mikeDnightis your man for Venus cloud details!

Nice sketch by the way.

Thank you! I thought about tagging him since I saw his sketches of Venus a couple days ago and I was really amazed.

[CraigT82]

Nice work Victor! Maybe head over to the planetary imaging section to see if anyone made any captures last night that you can compare your sketch with? 

[Victor Boesen]

3 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Nice work Victor! Maybe head over to the planetary imaging section to see if anyone made any captures last night that you can compare your sketch with? 

Thank you very much! I had a look at the SGL section and CN solar system section before posting here but it seems the latest pictures are from Tuesday...

[mikeDnight]

Hi Victor.

Unfortunately its blanket cloud here tonight, so I haven't had chance to look at Venus. It looks like you've definitely caught some of the cloud top detail in your sketch. You've got the positioning and the relative intensity right from what I've been observing recently. You've been very cautious not to over exaggerate the detail yet there's still a lot of information in the sketch. Your drawing looks quite small, probably because that's what the planet looks like in the eyepiece.  To make things easier to work with, I tend to use a 2" template for the planetary disc's of Venus and Mars, then things don't get too cluttered. I also use cotton ear buds to soften, blend and shade the features. It might be something you'd like to try sometime, as you've definitely got the ability to see the detail. Many thanks for posting your sketch. It's a real pleasure to see other observers work in this way.

Edited March 7, 2020 by mikeDnight

[Victor Boesen]

7 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Hi Victor.

Unfortunately its blanket cloud here tonight, so I haven't had chance to look at Venus. It looks like you've definitely caught some of the cloud top detail in your sketch. You've got the positioning and the relative intensity right from what I've been observing recently. You've been very cautious not to over exaggerate the detail yet there's still a lot of information in the sketch. Your drawing looks quite small, probably because that's what the planet looks like in the eyepiece.  To make things easier to work with, I tend to use a 2" template for the planetary disc's of Venus and Mars, then things don't get too cluttered. I also use cotton ear buds to soften, blend and shade the features. It might be something you'd like to try sometime, as you've definitely got the ability to see the detail. Many thanks for posting your sketch. It's a real pleasure to see other observers work in this way.

I'm very honered to hear that from you Mike!! You're right I should probably just upscale my drawing which I will do next time;) I tried to be careful with the cloud detail although when the only things I had were a pencil and an eraser then it's not easy to draw subtle details...

Thank you very much!!

[mikeDnight]

11 hours ago, Victor Boesen said:

I'm very honered to hear that from you Mike!! You're right I should probably just upscale my drawing which I will do next time;) I tried to be careful with the cloud detail although when the only things I had were a pencil and an eraser then it's not easy to draw subtle details...

Thank you very much!!

Hi Victor,

I thought you might be interested in some Venus observations from around 100 years ago. They are from a book I have, but its all in French so I struggle a little reading it, but the sketches speak volumes. The scopes used were the 37cm Schaer refractor and the 26cm Merz apochromatic refractor. The sketches show the general changes in cloud pattern that can be seen at times. The final image are of sketches I made years ago and  that appear in Peter Grego's book VENUS & MERCURY by Springer, and which show similar patterns especially along the terminator.

Edited March 8, 2020 by mikeDnight

[Victor Boesen]

47 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Hi Victor,

I thought you might be interested in some Venus observations from around 100 years ago. They are from a book I have, but its all in French so I struggle a little reading it, but the sketches speak volumes. The scopes used were the 37cm Schaer refractor and the 26cm Merz apochromatic refractor. The sketches show the general changes in cloud pattern that can be seen at times. The final image are of sketches I made years ago and  that appear in Peter Grego's book VENUS & MERCURY by Springer, and which show similar patterns especially along the terminator.

Those are great sketches! Very fascinating indeed. Thank you very much for sharing:)