+Bino-viewer Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 (edited) I'm enjoying this apparition of Venus a lot. Its putting on a great show. Thankfully this week the weather seems a bit more settled and i've had some good views of it through my binocs (Canon 15x50 is) and telescopes. Its currently approaching the end of its evening apparition, but this year we may be in for a rare treat. For us northerners Venus will pass through inferior conjunction at its highest possible point north of the sun : a full 8 degrees. This means (with careful observation) it should be possible to follow it right the way through conjunction. Indeed on the 24th / 25th March it should be visible after sunset and before sunrise the following morning. Its currently 16.5 days away from Inferior Conjunction on the morning of March 25. I always like to see how close to IC i can follow it. My best is 6 days before a good few years ago before i lost it in the evening twilight. I should beat that easily this year if the weather co-operates At present it is a thinning 9.7% sunlit crescent of 52 arc seconds, bigger than Jupiter i think ? I took a quick image of it earlier this evening with the DSLR, its pretty poor (i'm not in the imaging clique, and its not worthy of a gallery entry) but shows the current phase ok. Edited March 8, 2017 by Bino-viewer Smithysteve and Tweedledee 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 I didn't realise it was that far away from the sun at this conjunction Rob. Here's hoping for clear skies for the 24th/25th and your subsequent observing report. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Bino-viewer Posted March 8, 2017 Author Share Posted March 8, 2017 We have a meet up at Wymeswold on the 25th Pete, which i will hopefully be attending. I can't remember what the western horizon looks like at Wymeswold : i don't think its too bad ? I will be looking out for Venus anyway....8 degrees is 16 moon widths. I think i have a decent chance...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Venus is a tough object to photograph because of its surface brightness, which is brighter than even the full moon. I have some ideas but illness and poor weather have stopped me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 1 hour ago, Sunny Phil said: Venus is a tough object to photograph because of its surface brightness, which is brighter than even the full moon. I have some ideas but illness and poor weather have stopped me. According to my calculations you are correct Phil. Get well soon. Venus currently has a surface brightness of magnitude -7.47 per square arcminute, whereas the moon is only magnitude -4.99 per square arcminute. Checked my formula with a few DSO's in Stellarium and it correlates perfectly with those as well. Smithysteve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 Here's my effort from last night. 127 Mak with DSLR. ISO 800 1/1000 second exposure. 6 frames stacked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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