Re: Venus issues
- From: W. H. Greer <sendnomail@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:50:41 -0700
On Wed, 07 Mar 2007, "Steve & Lizzie"
<steveandlizzie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
My problem is that I am unable to resolve Venus in either of my scopes! I
have a Meade 70 refractor and a Skywatcher 130mm Newt (650 - F5) plus
various EP's and filters etc. However regardless of the combinations I use I
can see no more than an extremely bright light (with refraction
colours/patterns). I have been told that I should be able to resolve Venus
easily - what am I doing wrong?
Hi Steve,
As others have stated, at the present time Venus is rather distant (on
the far side of the Sun) and is a fat gibbous in phase.
Due to the small apparent size of the planet, your 130mm Newtonian
should be a better choice than the smaller refractor -- assuming
reasonably good optics, collimation, and cool-down. If any of those
three items are poor or inadequate the image *will* suffer!
You'll want to start observing the planet as early as possible in the
evening, while it's higher in the sky. Doing so should result in
improved seeing conditions compared to observing later. Even better,
if it's possible and practical for you, *might* be to observe the
planet in the daytime.
In the early evening a relatively dark filter would help cut down the
glare and brilliance. I used a #80A Blue filter last night for the
Venus observation and sketch that I posted to my blog earlier today.
That filter transmits about 30% of the incident light.
There are a couple of earlier Venus observations and sketches also in
my blog. Those were made in the daytime with a 102mm SCT and a 130mm
refractor. Venus was closer to full then and a bit smaller in
apparent size. In those telescopes the planet's disk appeared quite
small. With the passage of time, as Venus swings around to our side
of the Sun it will grow *a lot* in apparent size. So things *will*
improve!
--
Bill
Celestial Journeys
http://cejour.blogspot.com
.
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