Daytime occultation of Venus by the Moon

[Gfamily]

The sky cleared just as I thought I'd not have any chance of seeing it. Now tracking to hopefully capture the egress later

[Swoop1]

So, I had clear skies and fantastic views of the moon- on Mondy 6th and Tuesday 7th November 2023.

For Wednesday 8th November 2023 the skies above me were predictably absolutely socked in and dispensing preciptitation.

This morning, the moon looks gorgeous.

😠

[Nik271]

I just managed this image through clouds a few minutes before the occultation. Perhaps better luck in an hour.

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by Nik271

[Littleguy80]

Clouded out around 9:30’ too for me. Got some shot with my DSLR and 10” dob. Had a punt at processing one. 

[Jeff Marsden]

Forecast was for cloud and heavy rain at 09:00 hrs and so I did not set up a telescope. Sizeable amounts of white cloud as I pointed a star atlas app on the mobile towards where it said the Moon should be through the clouds. Not looking good. I had my 8x30 binoculars with me as I glanced around and voila, the Moon was further up and the west by some distance from where the app pointed.

Venus was close by at 09:35 and through light and broken cloud the two were nicely visible. Wonderfully just before Venus hit the edge and started to dim, a patch of clear blue sky presented itself until Venus disappeared at 09:42. One minute later the Moon was obscured by thick cloud.

A very nice spectacle even through binoculars as opposed to a higher magnification through a telescope.

Nik271’s photo is decently representative of what I saw although I had more clarity.

[Les Ewan]

This was a beautiful event through binoculars the paleness of the Moon contrasting wonderfully with the dazzling pure white Venus against a blue sky.(For a change)!!

My image was obtained with a Nikon 3200DSLR couple to a driven 16" f4.8 Dob at prime focus.

[Gfamily]

 

My tracking wasn't perfect, and my trees were getting in the way, but I just about managed to capture the start of the occultation

 

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by Gfamily
Swap to slightly shorter video

[Stu1smartcookie]

Just a quick pic taken before going off to work

[Paul M]

I got this!

A break in the clouds with a high cirrus but I still caught egress with the 10x50's

Venus was still an easy naked eye object. 

[Les Ewan]

9 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

My tracking wasn't perfect, and my trees were getting in the way, but I just about managed to capture the start of the occultation

 

Great stuff I'm envious. I tried a similar video but my camera stopped recording after 30 seconds so didn't capture the actual ingress. Maybe a faulty SD card but my NIKON 3200 tends to do this at the most inopportune times!

[Stu]

Clouded out here for both ends. Briefly saw the Moon with Venus behind it for what it’s worth (🤪)

[Captain Scarlet]

5 minutes ago, Stu said:

Clouded out here for both ends. Briefly saw the Moon with Venus behind it for what it’s worth (🤪)

This was exactly my experience too. A gap briefly appeared so I can confirm that Venus was in fact occulted, as my location showed it was touch-and-go whether an occupy or a graze.

[groberts]

6.30am from East Surrey today, courtesy of my wife - I was still in bed! 

[Cosmic Geoff]

The ingress was clouded out but I saw the exit with my 127mm Mak and with the 102mm f5 GoTo.  I did not try setting up for imaging.  I missed the moment of emergence as I was walking between the two telescopes.

[Gfamily]

On 24/10/2023 at 19:00, Gfamily said:

Yes, Venus should be easily visible - and I suspect that the surface brightness may be even brighter than the Moon's occulting edge*

*The moon's surface is fairly dark - with an albedo of about 12% it's similar to used asphalt in reflectivity - whereas Venus' clouds have a much higher albedo, reflecting up to 70% of the Sun's light.  

Told you so! 😃

[wesdon1]

3 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

The ingress was clouded out but I saw the exit with my 127mm Mak and with the 102mm f5 GoTo.  I did not try setting up for imaging.  I missed the moment of emergence as I was walking between the two telescopes.

@Cosmic Geoff Jeff i was/am gutted, because i was hoping to get some lovely daytime images of the Moon and Venus but YET AGAIN the damn clouds stopped me!

[Stu1smartcookie]

I would just like to say that the photos ( except mine) are absolutely wonderful on this thread . 

[Paz]

I saw it both sides!!!

It was looking bad but I got a 72mm  refractor set up on a Porta 2 in case the weather turned good. I found the Moon/Venus with the help of Sky Safari, I put it in compass mode and squared it with my scope and swung to the right place and that was good enough. Although it was not visible naked eye, through my finder I could just make out the lit limb of the moon. Then I saw Venus which was super bright in comparison, I wonder why my brain noticed the moon first and not Venus but anyway I then took a while to line up my finders as the moon and Venus kept appearing and disappearing behind the clouds. I settled on a 4mm SLV for 108x and 0.4 degree field of view, and could see a well dimmed (by the clouds) view of Venus but the moon was invisible! By moving the scope back and forth I could only just make out the limb of the moon coming and going. I then tried a polarising filter to see if I could do better but I could not see an improvement, so I left that out and just stayed at the eyepiece and tried to not lose Venus.

The clouds thinned a little and the moon magically appeared alongside Venus! The first contact was epic, Venus took a minute or so to pass the limb of the moon, I wondered if I would think so what, having seen the moon and Venus so many times but it was amazing.

After that the clouds thinned further and the sun came out. I brought the scope in but left it set up, and I went back out at 10.30 to see Venus re-emerge. I dropped to a 10mm SLV and 43x and a 1.2 degree field of view to get a clear view of the lit limb of the moon in order to have my bearings on where Venus would emerge. It was another roller coaster of cloud coming and going and the Moon appearing and disappearing in the finder, but once I was at the eyepiece as long as I stayed there and kept it in view it was ok, this time the Moon never completely disappeared at the eyepiece.

I got my bearings on where Venus would emerge and watched the time, then a few minutes before I stay at the eyepiece and concentrate. Then Venus pops out right on time and right where I am looking! As soon as Venus appears I can tell my focus is slightly off due to focusing on a dim moon, and I fix this and get a great view with some atmospheric colour in the spells when the could was thinner, which on this occasion I thought was pretty and added to the wonder of the view, rather than being a nuisance. 

What an epic result for me and against the odds - only matched I think by when I saw a Mercury transit once in a small window of clarity between persistent cloud and rain.

Here's a picture when I was getting my finders lined up (I think this was with a 25mm SLV), and a picture of the sky after first contact finished, the clouds cleared up just enough and just in time!

 

 

[wesdon1]

1 minute ago, Paz said:

I saw it both sides!!!

It was looking bad but I got a 72mm  refractor set up on a Porta 2 in case the weather turned good. I found the Moon/Venus with the help of Sky Safari, I put it in compass mode and squared it with my scope and swung to the right place and that was good enough. Although it was not visible naked eye, through my finder I could just make out the lit limb of the moon. Then I saw Venus which was super bright in comparison, I wonder why my brain noticed the moon first and not Venus but anyway I then took a while to line up my finders as the moon and Venus kept appearing and disappearing behind the clouds. I settled on a 4mm SLV for 108x and 0.4 degree field of view, and could see a well dimmed (by the clouds) view of Venus but the moon was invisible! By moving the scope back and forth I could only just make out the limb of the moon coming and going. I then tried a polarising filter to see if I could do better but I could not see an improvement, so I left that out and just stayed at the eyepiece and tried to not lose Venus.

The clouds thinned a little and the moon magically appeared alongside Venus! The first contact was epic, Venus took a minute or so to pass the limb of the moon, I wondered if I would think so what, having seen the moon and Venus so many times but it was amazing.

After that the clouds thinned further and the sun came out. I brought the scope in but left it set up, and I went back out at 10.30 to see Venus re-emerge. I dropped to a 10mm SLV and 43x and a 1.2 degree field of view to get a clear view of the lit limb of the moon in order to have my bearings on where Venus would emerge. It was another roller coaster of cloud coming and going and the Moon appearing and disappearing in the finder, but once I was at the eyepiece as long as I stayed there and kept it in view it was ok, this time the Moon never completely disappeared at the eyepiece.

I got my bearings on where Venus would emerge and watched the time, then a few minutes before I stay at the eyepiece and concentrate. Then Venus pops out right on time and right where I am looking! As soon as Venus appears I can tell my focus is slightly off due to focusing on a dim moon, and I fix this and get a great view with some atmospheric colour in the spells when the could was thinner, which on this occasion I thought was pretty and added to the wonder of the view, rather than being a nuisance. 

What an epic result for me and against the odds - only matched I think by when I saw a Mercury transit once in a small window of clarity between persistent cloud and rain.

Here's a picture when I was getting my finders lined up (I think this was with a 25mm SLV), and a picture of the sky after first contact finished, the clouds cleared up just enough and just in time!

 

 

I'm STILL trying mate!! LOL. I have had my DSLR camera set up on my camera tripod, staring at the area of sky where Moon is, waiting for a gap in clouds, but it's just not happening mate! So frustrating! LOL.

Lovely pic you got yourself mate!

Regards, Wes, Liverpool

[lukebl]

It was clouded over here for the whole event. But once the clouds cleared it was amazing how easy it was to see Venus in bright sunlight with the naked eye. This was a snapshot at around 11:20.

[Stu]

Likewise here, clouded out for the event itself, but cleared nicely about fifteen mins afterwards, typically. Nice views through the 15x50IS binos. Easier to focus on Venus than the Moon I found. As said though, much easier to see the faint Moon in daylight with the naked eye than Venus, but Venus way brighter through the binos. I guess it’s an image scale and focus thing. I could definitely see Venus with the naked eye though, so once you’ve got your focus point right it’s quite obvious even in broad daylight.

[Gfamily]

The egress was clouded out, but I got a moody view a few minutes later 

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by Gfamily

[Stu]

Nice to be able to see Venus’ phase in these images and through the binos.

[John]

I completely forgot about this event 🙄

Good to see that some managed to catch it though 🙂

It's pretty cloudy / rainy here this morning so I suspect I would not have been able to see much of it.

[Space Hopper]

Some lovely images on here, well done all.

We were clouded out a bit and missed the disappearance and reemerging bits, but just a few minutes later (10:45hrs) a clear patch revealed the Moon and Venus,

and they were a beautiful sight. My 15x50 stabilised Canons were perfect for the job.

Venus was so bright in the binocs at mag - 4.3 and its phase was easy to see.

A really lovely conjunction. Whens the next one...? 😀

Edited November 9, 2023 by Space Hopper