APRIL 4TH - VENUS IN THE PLEIADES

[paulastro]

I was lucky to have clear skies from 7.30 until my final look at the conjunction at 10.45 when I had my last view with my 10x50 binoculars before going indoors.

For most of the time I used my SW 120ED in the observatory, using a 2 inch correct image diagonal and a 32 mm PanaView eyepiece.  This framed the event very well and showed the phase of Venus nicely.  This combination gave me x28 and a 2.5 degree field.  I find seeing the Pleiades in the correct orientation is much nicer than when using an image reverse diagonal, which I try and avoid if possible.

I watched it as the sky changed from blue, with only the main stars visible until it was properly dark.  A beautiful sight despite the bright Moon.  About 8.45 pm I attached my Olympus E-M5 MK11 and was shocked to see that I couldn't get all of M45 in the field!  I had forgotten to take into account that my macro 4/3 format camera  doubles the focal length of the system so it was effectively working at 1800 mm focal length.  I rushed indoors and fetched my SW 80ED and mounted it on an AZ4 outside the observatory.  With a native focal length of 600 mm (effectively 1200 mm with the camera on board) I knew it would be fine. The single frame below was taken (un-driven of course) on the AZ4, with an exposure of 1.3 seconds at 1600 asa.

I continued watching from the observatory with the 120ED until 10.10 pm when Venus and the Pleiades sank below the observatory wall. 

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2020 by paulastro

[mikeDnight]

Nice pic paul,

I was roughing it with a 10" reflector.

[paulastro]

Desperate times call for desperate measures eh Mike, using a reflector must have been really strange for for you 😄.   Still, you managed to produce a nice drawing none the less 👍.  Your attention to detail is praiseworthy, you even drew in the diffraction spikes!  I think you could have been forgiven for leaving them out 😀.