Venus 27 May

[N1]

Today's Venus attempt this afternoon proved more challenging but more rewarding than the one 10 days ago, at least visually. Photographically, not quite as good.

At a height of just 16° and elongation of 12° the crescent was no longer easy to spot in the dob's 8x50 finder, it took some time to locate using a low power eyepiece. Clear sky but a slight haze lower down. Seeing was OK in general but at this low altitude only allowed medium powers. The visual impression is now changing from interesting to "you don't see that every day". The crescent is starting to look strangely dimensionless at medium powers. It has length alright but no width to speak of. The horns of the crescent will start to approach each other in a few days' time.

8" dob @f/18, red filter and ASI120MM. Not expecting many more from this setup between now and conjunction day. Refractor will take over soon I think.

Have added a lower magnification shot to approximate visual impression at about 100x

[batema]

Very nice.

[astronobob]

A great shot, thin slither alright, are you going to try for thinner or when said horns grow, how far can they grow, guess depends on closeness to sun and how risky one wants to get trying to find it.
Amazing view indeed..

[Tinderboxsky]

Excellent result Mirko. I had a stunning view three days ago when Venus was crossing the Meridian. I swapped gear to try for an image. I was so excited by landing Venus dead centre on my first attempt that I forgot to do a fine focus. The result was an out of focus crescent.

I am keen to try again but the weather may defeat me now.

[N1]

Hi Guys, thanks for your comments.

The horns of the crescent will join by 3 June to form a full circle, based on previous observations. See attached eyepiece shots from earlier events for illustration of what we might expect to see.

[andyc]

Nice capture - And Wow Mirko, those are astonishing images you've taken previously, Damian Peach's images are great for showing big cusp extensions, but a full ring, 1.5deg from the Sun.... :eyepop: How did you protect the optics from the Sun and how did you find the planet?

[N1]

Hi Andy, the method I'm using (or variations of it) is crude but effective, see here (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=164013) for the basic principle. Damian would not have caught the ring after June 2012 because there's been none to observe since then. No doubt he is preparing for this too.

I can't overstate both the significance (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=175774&highlight=venus) of the upcoming inferior conjunction, and the need to play it safe (https://media.gettyimages.com/illustrations/-illustration-id10082364?s=2048x2048). Next opportunity to see the annular phase after this one: 1 June 2028