Quote:
Originally Posted by BilliGoatsGruff
Today I was watching a movie (Remember Sunday) and there's a part where the guy is "viewing" Venus through a telescope. I think it was a 30cm scope, but I'm not sure as I'm poor with judgment. I was wondering, is it possible to see a detailed image of Venus, in full phase, through any sized telescope?
There would be other flaws with the astronomy side of the movie. That one just struck me as the most curious.
I am aware that Venus is ridiculously bright thanks to the light reflection and I always thought you couldn't view it with a telescope for that reason.
|
Hi Billi,
When Venus is near full phase, it is on the other side of the sun from Earth and almost at it's furthest from Earth hence at its smallest diameter.
Photographically, some cloud detail can be teased out with UV photography. My friends Gabi and Joerg Ackermann in Germany are very good at this type of work. See
http://tinyurl.com/jrgeynf
But do note they do most of their work when Venus is in crescent phase when it is at a bigger diameter and probably because the lighting angle is better for revealing details
The eye is very insensitive to UV and though I've never looked, I suspect the filters won't show much visually.
But hey, it's a movie, suspend reality and believe it's real.
Cheers
Joe
