It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

Apollo XX · Unread post by **Apollo XX** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:58 pm

...it's the Goddess of Love Show!

Just a heads up, folks; Venus is fast approaching inferior conjunction and is currently at about 22% waning crescent. This is an excellent apparition to see Venus in the slender crescent phases - quite frankly a sight like no other. She's currently approaching 45" in apparent diameter, and the crescent shape can actually be discerned in 10x50 binoculars. She's also super bright at magnitude -4.1 right now, so it's pretty easy to find in the daytime sky too. In fact to me it looks much better in the blue sky than it does in the dark, because by the time it's dark the planet is starting to sink low in the sky and the seeing just gets worse and worse. Either way though, why not treat yourself to one of the most special sights that our solar system dishes up? Any scope will do, so don't get fancy. Keep it easy and enjoy!

Apollo XX · Unread post by **Apollo XX** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:24 pm

Here's a sampling of what you might have seen if you looked today, at like say 3ish o'clock;

Venus; 21.6% Illuminated, 43.3" Apparent Diameter, -4.62 Magnitude, 35.8 Million Miles from Earth.

Equipment; Meade Starfinder 12.5" dob, Meade MA25mm Eyepiece, Meade 3x Barlow (185x), Kodak Z885 Camera, ISO200, F2.8, 1/800 sec.

mrgizmo65 · Unread post by **mrgizmo65** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 6:46 pm

Thanks for the heads upMike that would be worth a look.Because it's daylight,should I use a solar filter?

Bruce D · Unread post by **Bruce D** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:37 pm

Mike that is a great image of Venus!

Apollo XX · Unread post by **Apollo XX** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:55 pm

mrgizmo65 wrote:Thanks for the heads upMike that would be worth a look.Because it's daylight,should I use a solar filter?

Nah, Venus is bright, but it's not that bright!

Apollo XX · Unread post by **Apollo XX** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:59 pm

Bruce D wrote:Mike that is a great image of Venus!

Thanks Bruce! Spur of the moment. I had been using the scope the night before and had left it out to dry during the day. I walked over to it mid-afternoon and just quickly pointed it at Venus before I put it away. The sight was so pretty that I went to get the stuff and take the picture.

rjbokleman · Unread post by **rjbokleman** » Sat Mar 11, 2017 5:46 am

Nice shot there Mike!

Apollo XX · Unread post by **Apollo XX** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 4:07 pm

Thanks Ron! Here's a couple of update shots - Venus on last Sunday and on this Sunday, 12% and 6% respectively. Shot through the smaller scope so the magnification is only 110x. As seen through the eyepiece on both of those occasions;

AndyG · Unread post by **AndyG** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 10:15 pm

Cool Mike! Getting verrry thin.

ASSNE.ORG

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

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