Venus now.

[ItsmeMaw]

Am I correct in thinking from the phase Venus is showing it is near maximum elongation?

Two evenings ago it was very beautiful in the twilight sky.

[Nik271]

Yes, it's pretty close to the maximal elongation, which is at the end of October I think. Because it's far away from the Sun you can also find and look at it in the afternoon even before sunset. Binoculars show it easily.

[IB20]

I saw Venus had appeared in a gap between two neighbouring houses 30 mins so threw the 80mm frac up. Being still relatively light I found aligning and focusing quite difficult, but once I got it honed in I was amazed at what I could see.

It’s my first time viewing Venus through a scope and I was quite surprised with the disc size but more so with how defined the phase was. Atmospheric dispersion was quite pronounced but it appeared as a perfect white semi circle with red and blue fringing. No signs of CA which I’m delighted about.

Just Mercury to go!

[Stu]

Just been having a look myself. Plenty of atmospheric dispersion as mentioned but a very clear phase.

Looks like it is at 53% illumination with maximum elongation on 29th October.

[Gonariu]

I saw it a few weeks ago with the Vixen 102/1000, not very high in the sky but they were windy days when the air was agitated. However, the phase stood out well, practically a half moon.

[CentaurZ]

Venus' dichotomy (half phase - 50% illumination) is expected on October 22. Greatest eastern elongation from the Sun is expected on October 29. The difference in timing is twofold: The orbits of Venus and Earth are slightly eccentric, and observed eastern dichotomy usually occurs about 6 or 7 days earlier then would be expected from geometric calculations, likely due to a Venusian atmospheric effect.

 

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by CentaurZ