Venus - 26 November

[DarkerSky]

Braved a balmy() -4c dawn to view Venus through my 12" scope. My first view of its morning apparition this time around. What surprised me was how BIG it appeared in the EP. It was a beauty - a giant luminous crescent juddering around in relatively poor seeing of approx IV.

Managed a sketch:

12" x192 magnifcation

Red filter

06.25 to 07.05UT

As I watched it rise higher, a couple of features caught my eye. The first was a brighter collar noted near the northern part of the illumintated disc. This is marked by a doted line on the sketch near top. The second feature was a faint extension of duskiness out from the terminator across a small segment of the central northern part of the disc. This was very subtle - and difficult to pin down with all the juddering going on from the turbulent atmosphere. Nevertheless, I am sure it was there and have noted it down in the sketch.

[mattifor]

Yes that just about what I observed at 05:30 this morning, Thought my eyes were playing tricks with me I have never seen the crescent before so clearly .

Great veiwing in the low temp.

But got to cold must wrap up better in future.

[DarkerSky]

Yes that just about what I observed at 05:30 this morning, Thought my eyes were playing tricks with me I have never seen the crescent before so clearly .

Great veiwing in the low temp.

But got to cold must wrap up better in future.

Yes. It was beautiful. So nice to be able to observe that time in the morning too. It is quite amazing to think that a crescent like that can shine so brightly.

[brianb]

Great observation! Thanks for sharing.

Those surface markings really are subtle, you're doing well to see them ... have you tried a violet (W47) filter, that will enhance the faint markings a bit as well as cutting down the glare.

Now the Bad News ... Venus will be shrinking fast and running away south as the phase increases, the next few weeks are the best opportunity for observing the planet in a dark sky until late winter / spring 2012.

[JohnR]

Yep,Venus looked huge this morning

[Venus_is_my_friend]

It's like being back at the telescope this morning, hehe. Great job =)