May 26, 2020: A Tale of Two Crescents

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Had another go at spotting Venus with the binoculars at the end of the street where I have a less obstructed horizon towards the west and northwest. I took both the little Nikon Monarch 7 10x42 and the Helios LightQuest 16x80 bins. I first found Venus with the wider field Nikon, and then got out the big bins. Venus wasn't visible to the naked eye. I walked back home and made a final attempt at picking the planet up, and to my surprise I could pick it out just above a chimney across the street, first with the bins, and then with the naked eye. I attached my monopod to the bins and had a longer look. The crescent is extremely thin at the moment, really beautiful. The view was much more stable with the monopod. I did notice that even at 16x I could see a lot of turbulence above the roofs (unsurprisingly). I then swung over to the moon, and admired the craters along the terminator. A short session, but fun nonetheless. 

[PeterW]

I admired the roughly equal crescent of the moon and Venus 2 days back (along with tiny mercury) in my 10x50, very nice.

 

peter