Venus 7th December 2010

[Dave Smith]

First time in two weeks I've had a clear sky in the morning and then it was hazy and clouds coming and going. It took around two hours for a clear patch to get in the right place. I was able to see Venus through thin cloud and so able to line up the scope and camera with barlow. This image was taken at about 11.40am. I had taken some insurance shots through the cloud just in case.

The full sequence of Venus images from July to now can be seen on the planets page of my website (link below).

Dave

[oldfruit]

Nice sharp image as always. Just out of curiosity, is it easy to find Venus in the daytime? I have seen it from 6am and even at 8am but never tried to locate it after i went to work.

[russ]

Lovely sharp image Dave. You've really nailed that one.

[Dave Smith]

Normally I do find it straightforward although today was a bit more tricky.

I am using EQmod, get it to align on the Sun using the finder scope as a projector. Fine tune so that the bright patch from the Sun is in the middle of the finder's shadow. The slew to Venus and usually I can see it in the finder and also with a 30mm wide angle eyepiece in the main scope. It can be a bit frustrating when it keeps on hiding behind the clouds. I don't think I would like to try finding Venus in daylight without GOTO.

Dave

[Ant]

Thats lovely Dave, I love the sequence on your site - the presentation is very good

Ant

[oldfruit]

I did manage to find it in daylight earlier in the year because it was quite close to the moon and was shown on stellarium and i was lucky enough to see it about an hour before sunset. Like yourself, without some assistance i would have been lost too.

[Jupiterholic]

Beautiful image. What capture settings are you using to achieve the soft shadowing on the cloud surface? When I tackled Venus recently using Sharpcap I couldn't get my gain or exposure low enough to produce anything except a sharp edge where the shading is on yours. Are you using filters aswell?

[barkis]

Venus is fairly well devoid of detail in most images of it, and yet it still looks so attractive.

This is a very smooth result Dave.

I can't see the link to your website by the way.

Ron.

[Dave Smith]

Beautiful image. What capture settings are you using to achieve the soft shadowing on the cloud surface? When I tackled Venus recently using Sharpcap I couldn't get my gain or exposure low enough to produce anything except a sharp edge where the shading is on yours. Are you using filters aswell?

I am using a red astronomik filter. I don't use any particular settings but do make use of the histogram facility in IC Capture to ensure that no part of the image is overexposed. I find it works best with the log display. I'm not sure if sharpcap has a histogram. The other program I sometimes use for other planets, K3CCDtools, also has a histogram facility.

I can't see the link to your website by the way.

Ron.

Ron, its in my sig.

or here http://astrosnaps.co.uk

Dave

[abumuhannadh]

i was able to see Venus in the daylight (the sun 32 degrees up) a week ago, naked eye.

it was about 9:50 am. and the sky was so blue, the moon which was pretty close helped me focus my eyes. and Venus was very bright even at that time that i am sure even if the moon wasn't there to help i would have focused on it. i did not try to find it later in the day, i might have if i tried.

[geoff_k]

I am very envious of your excellent image as there seems to be perpetual cloud down my way.

I once found Venus near the Moon in the early evening but given that it is so bright in the morning right now this might be the best time to see it in daylight. Just need some clear skies!

Geoff

[beamish]

V Nice !!

[DarkerSky]

Nice one Dave. Must be quite an experience to be doing a bit of daytime astronomy with Venus. I managed to keep it in view yest morning til about 8.30am naked eye on the school run / work run.