Venus then the Moon, 2/4/23

[mikeDnight]

Although it was a clear sky, the jetstream ruined the view. To help settle the turbulence in the eyepiece I used #80A blue filters (which help to bring out the visually brighter regions) on Venus, and I could only manage low powers on the Moon.

  

[Kon]

Excellent drawings and I am always amazed to see you observing/drawing clouds on Venus. 

[mikeDnight]

10 hours ago, Kon said:

Excellent drawings and I am always amazed to see you observing/drawing clouds on Venus. 

 Thanks Kon, I'm loving your superb images! They are showing a completely different level of detail than that seen visibly through the eyepiece, yet still relatable, which is encouraging to me.  The detail through the eyepiece is very subtle and so to show it in a sketch, the sketch is naturally needs to be an exaggeration with regard to intensity. However they do show what I believe is in the eyepiece image.  Last night I decided to spend some time using colour filters and comparing the views with that of the unfiltered view.  Colour filters really do help at times, but as you can see in the sketches below, different colours reveal slightly different levels of detail. I also noted that increasing the magnification in the final unfiltered sketch helped reveal some of the detail more easily.   There is also a bright spot on the limb that was seen using the red filter, which is quite dark for my small aperture scope, and which was also visible at higher magnification. Possibly a high cloud on the limb that's catching the Sun? Anyhow, it may be the dimming of the image in both cases, one through a dark filter and the other through a higher magnification that allowed the bright spot to stand out against the already brilliant limb? Sounds plausible to me! 

 

[Kon]

14 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

 Thanks Kon, I'm loving your superb images! They are showing a completely different level of detail than that seen visibly through the eyepiece, yet still relatable, which is encouraging to me.  The detail through the eyepiece is very subtle and so to show it in a sketch, the sketch is naturally needs to be an exaggeration with regard to intensity. However they do show what I believe is in the eyepiece image.  Last night I decided to spend some time using colour filters and comparing the views with that of the unfiltered view.  Colour filters really do help at times, but as you can see in the sketches below, different colours reveal slightly different levels of detail. I also noted that increasing the magnification in the final unfiltered sketch helped reveal some of the detail more easily.   There is also a bright spot on the limb that was seen using the red filter, which is quite dark for my small aperture scope, and which was also visible at higher magnification. Possibly a high cloud on the limb that's catching the Sun? Anyhow, it may be the dimming of the image in both cases, one through a dark filter and the other through a higher magnification that allowed the bright spot to stand out against the already brilliant limb? Sounds plausible to me! 

 

 

Another excellent set of sketches. Whenever I tried to observe Venus, I only get to see the phase. I don't have any visual filters to try and pick clouds. The bright spot is intriguing. I have seen a brighter side in my captures but I never thought much of it as I thought it may be due to processing.  Again amazing visual skills!