Venus -3 days

Hi, It rained for the last 2 days but finally cleared up enough for me to snag Venus maybe for the last time in the eveining sky this year... I fought gusty winds and cirrus clouds to get this best of 22 out of 44 images. I built a dew shield/sun shade out of poster board so it doubled the length of the whole telescope and cut down on the glare. I used a televue 3x barlow with a 70mm f/8 refractor and a Canon XTi @ 100asa. The times were 1/200 sec. Taken at approx 18:15 UT abd about 5 degrees from the Sun and the phase is around .45%. The bits and blobs are microscopic dust in focal plane that I can't get rid of and the Cottonwood trees are making the skies look like a blizzard.

Thanks for looking!
Joe

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Excellent!

Nice. I just took a look at it myself with my refractor. The sun was behind a cloud and Venus was brilliant in the blue sky. Very thin crescent, boiling to beat the band unfortunately.

Rolando

Thanks Guys! According to the article on spaceweather it doesn't happen until the planet is about a degree or so from the sun. I hope to try again today if it stays clear.


Joe

Excellent image, Joe!

I made an attempt at taking an image yesterday too. I was using my TEC-140, a 25mm Ultrascopic eyepiece, and a solar filter to find the Sun and then move Sun out of the FOV. Knowing about where Venus was located I nudged the scope up and to the left until I found it. Here's my afocal attempt using my point and shoot camera. The actual view was much sharper. Oh, image was taken at 2054 UT on June 6, 2012.

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Pretty decent photo! Might want to clone-out the dust spots.