Venus - when will it climb again?

[King]

I've been wanting to capture Venus with the new set up for some time now but it's too low in the sky (and getting lower). I gather it has an eight-phase cycle of about 585 days which would give each part an average of 73 days so from my estimation it's after another couple of months as it's just going back to the beginning where it's at its lowest (save the period late on where you can't see it at all).

Does anyone have a more precise date though?

[Demonperformer]

Aspects of Venus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Dave Smith]

I have been imaging Venus regularly since last July nearly always during daylight. You can see my results in a way that helps visualise what is going on at Planets

Dave

[King]

Interesting page. I will find that handy, but right now I just need to know when it's set to climb high enough to observe without a ground level horizon.

[brianb]

Venus is being really unccoperative at the moment, next Spring is great but we won't see much of her till about December this year, unless you're prepared to work in full daylight ... & even then Venus is going to be small & close to the sun, so be careful ...

[King]

I've been checking said Venus images actually. Fascinating endeavour. It looks like I'll be joining in on the daytime missions - and yes it's pretty close to the Sun at the moment I notice.

Is there a particular time of day that's best?

[Dave Smith]

I suppose it would be best when Venus is due South which at the moment is around 11am. The main problem is finding it safely. I first point my scope at the Sun WITH the cap on and use the finder to project an image and use that as a sync point and then GOTO Venus. I then use a 30mm 80 degree eyepiece to try to find Venus. At the moment it is rather tiny and difficult to find. Having located it I centre it in that eyepiece and then swop to more powerful eyepieces and fine tune the centering. Then I put the camera in firstly without barlow and usually can see a tiny Venus to focus on. Re-centre it and then add the barlow, refocus and centre and then record the avi file.

This is not the best time to start as it is getting dangerously close to the Sun and is getting less bright and difficult to find unless the sky is particularly haze free. If you can find it the rest will be a doddle. I also use a red filter to improve the contrast.

I hope that helps.

Dave

[Demonperformer]

Also, a cheap #23A or #25 filter (if you have one - else about £6 from S'n'S) can be useful to make things stand out against a blue sky.

HTH

[King]

I just bought a 25 filter as I could use it for Saturn anyway.

Sounds like excellent advice on the Venus viewing method. I'll see what I can do tomorrow morning. I'm aware it's more of a challenge at the moment but I guess that's what I'm after.