Venus June 4Posted By Andrew Sorenson |
Hi Darian,
I had a similar experience but with happier results. On June 3rd starting about 6:30pm I looked for Venus and noticed your Unidentified Fluffy Objects. I bet they are the seeds of cottonwoods. I was able to find Venus after a short search and follow Venus until shortly after sunset when Venus got low enough to "set" behind some leaves. I was able to show Venus to probably a couple dozen people. I had set up in a parking lot across from a busy gym in Ames, Iowa. My daughter rents an apartment in that block and we were there for a visit. Seeing was fair. Several times when the seeing got good, some of us thought the crescent went beyond the 180 degrees marked by the poles, but we didn't see a complete circle. The next day, June 4th, I took the scope, a 4" refractor, f/13, to work and set it up during our 20 min. lunch "hour". I found it very quickly that time. I don't have a drive going. I first centered the image of the sun on the shadow of the tube assembly. I then shifted the scope about 6 degrees east and a bit north and searched from there. ( I had previously focused on a telephone pole about 1/2mile away) On Friday the air was much more stable and the crescent seemed quite a bit thinner. I also used a red filter. 3 other people at work also looked. One guy stepped back and gasped, I just saw two meteors!! (the cottonwood seeds apparently burn up after travelling so far in the atmosphere). Again, it seemed like the arc was greater than 180 degrees at times. It was Really neat, I have never seen Venus so close to the sun or so thin. I hope to have another chance to try it. I believe it would be a different situation searching this way, wihtout a drive, once Venus is west of the sun. Good luck !!
Drew
I had a similar experience but with happier results. On June 3rd starting about 6:30pm I looked for Venus and noticed your Unidentified Fluffy Objects. I bet they are the seeds of cottonwoods. I was able to find Venus after a short search and follow Venus until shortly after sunset when Venus got low enough to "set" behind some leaves. I was able to show Venus to probably a couple dozen people. I had set up in a parking lot across from a busy gym in Ames, Iowa. My daughter rents an apartment in that block and we were there for a visit. Seeing was fair. Several times when the seeing got good, some of us thought the crescent went beyond the 180 degrees marked by the poles, but we didn't see a complete circle. The next day, June 4th, I took the scope, a 4" refractor, f/13, to work and set it up during our 20 min. lunch "hour". I found it very quickly that time. I don't have a drive going. I first centered the image of the sun on the shadow of the tube assembly. I then shifted the scope about 6 degrees east and a bit north and searched from there. ( I had previously focused on a telephone pole about 1/2mile away) On Friday the air was much more stable and the crescent seemed quite a bit thinner. I also used a red filter. 3 other people at work also looked. One guy stepped back and gasped, I just saw two meteors!! (the cottonwood seeds apparently burn up after travelling so far in the atmosphere). Again, it seemed like the arc was greater than 180 degrees at times. It was Really neat, I have never seen Venus so close to the sun or so thin. I hope to have another chance to try it. I believe it would be a different situation searching this way, wihtout a drive, once Venus is west of the sun. Good luck !!
Drew
