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Venus Beautiful NOW


cloudsweeper

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30 minutes ago, Stu said:

...Not sure if you saw the heads up about the conjunction with Mercury on 21st and 22nd. Should be good if clear.

I didn't see that - thanks :smiley:

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Beautiful slender crescent through the Canon bins at the moment. There is something magical about a crescent Venus . It always seems to be a surprise somehow to see planet with that shape, but it nicely illustrates the layout of the solar system with some planets within our orbit and some without. I never tire of looking at it.

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Just spotted Mercury in the binos for the first time as it has got high enough to clear the neighbouring houses. Venus showing a lovely crescent even in the 10x50s.

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Just now, Alan White said:

Sadly missed it as view blocked by a big oak next door.

I will have a wander out for exercise and see if I can spot tomorrow.

Shame Alan. Can you get the conjunction on Thursday?

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Just now, Stu said:

Shame Alan. Can you get the conjunction on Thursday?

I hope so, but judging by tonight not quite.

The observing area is lower than next door, so blocks a little bit at times, I will try my best.

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8 minutes ago, Stu said:

Just spotted Mercury in the binos for the first time as it has got high enough to clear the neighbouring houses. Venus showing a lovely crescent even in the 10x50s.

Just got it too Stu. The sky just needed to be a little darker 

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Doesn't look very promising for me to see Mercury. Venus is just about clipping the top of the trees at the bottom of the garden. I will have to have a look to see if I can see Mercury through them. Fingers crossed as I don't want to miss the conjunction this week.

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8 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Doesn't look very promising for me to see Mercury. Venus is just about clipping the top of the trees at the bottom of the garden. I will have to have a look to see if I can see Mercury through them. Fingers crossed as I don't want to miss the conjunction this week.

I hope you manage it Barry. Mercury is always easier to spot when Venus points the way.

The west is not a good direction for me either  - I have to clamber out onto an area of flat roof! 

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I'll get a scope on Venus and Mercury on Thursday, if it's reasonably clear. Looks like the pair will be a touch under 2 degrees apart so both in the same FoV will be nice then some power on Mercury to tease out it's phase :smiley:

 

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17 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Doesn't look very promising for me to see Mercury. Venus is just about clipping the top of the trees at the bottom of the garden. I will have to have a look to see if I can see Mercury through them. Fingers crossed as I don't want to miss the conjunction this week.

Can you head anywhere with a better horizon to view it Barry?

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5 minutes ago, John said:

Looks like the pair will be a touch under 2 degrees apart

Down to one and a quarter degrees on Friday John at 9pm, closer if you can pick them up earlier. Should be good.

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6 minutes ago, Stu said:

Can you head anywhere with a better horizon to view it Barry?

I have a velux window in my roof which is facing in the west direction. I might have to take drastic action and get the Dob poking out of it. A bit unorthodox but I really don't want to miss the conjunction. Weather permitted.

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14 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

I have a velux window in my roof which is facing in the west direction. I might have to take drastic action and get the Dob poking out of it. A bit unorthodox but I really don't want to miss the conjunction. Weather permitted.

Needs must.....

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Lovely view of both Venus and Mercury though my Pentax 10X50 binos low in the western sky. Venus  in  waning crescent  was  easily seen at 10x  whilst  Mercury in the fading twilight low and to the North was obvious in both my binos and with  natural vision. A wonderful pairing for a mostly cloudy day which turned clear in late evening.

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Giving these two old ladies a run out tonight. Despite the CA, I thought the Genesis might do ok on getting the two of them together, with high power in the Vixen.

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I've taken my Vixen 102 upstairs to try and get a decent view of the conjunction. From the garden my view to the W is quite constrained by a very large conifer hedge :rolleyes2:

I've been seeing Venus OK but I wanted a bit more clear sky in that direction for the next few days.

 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, John said:

I've taken my Vixen 102 upstairs to try and get a decent view of the conjunction. From the garden my view to the W is quite constrained by a very large conifer hedge :rolleyes2:

I've been seeing Venus OK but I wanted a bit more clear sky in that direction for the next few days.

 

 

 

Yes, it can be tricky down that low. Last night I found a good spot where I managed to catch Mercury so should be fine tonight.

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3 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Beautiful slim crescent of Venus showing nicely. Now waiting for Mercury to appear. Hope I can get the scope on it!

Same here. Using my Pentax 12 x 50’s  - 4.2 “ fov. Hope fully nab both together as the light fades. Lovely evening for it 👍

Edited by Telescope40
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Got them both !!!!

Lovely views with the Tak 100. Mercury's phase showing clearly at 100x and more. Venus just 6.6% illuminated so very slim and delicate now.

Venus clear in the 30mm finder but I found Mercury at low power with the scope.

Took Mercury up to 281x but the high power seemed to emphasize atmospheric diffraction. 150x was nicer really. A small planet far away !

I think this is only the 3rd time that I've been able to see Mercury's phases clearly with a scope. Very pleased !

I took some at the eyepiece mobile snaps but I've no idea if the Mercury ones will show much.

They will be closer together tomorrow evening and Friday but the forecast is dodgy then so I'm glad I got sorted this evening.

Hope others are getting nice views of the pair as well :icon_biggrin:

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Started to observe Venus in the 12x70 binos and decided to take out the Heritage 130p. Used the 8-24 TeleVue zoom and the phase of Venus quite special. Went looking for Mercury and found it with the 9x50 finder. Decided to use my new Baader 10mm classic ortho with the Baader 2.25x barlow giving 146x. Great to see the phase of Mercury.

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