Venus & Mercury Tonight 2nd Aug

[Dave882]

Venus is almost gone from view in our evening sky - but until then I thought I'd grab the opportunity for another capture. Jet stream prediction was promising but the reality was terrible - fine focus was nothing more than dumb luck in the bubbling mess but was happy I got a couple of images to clean up ok.

6min captures, IR850 7ms, adjusted exposure to hit about 40-50% on the histogram. Captured between 5:30-6pm.

What struck me as soon as I shifted to Mercury was the incredible size difference. I thought a nice way to present this was a side-by-side comparison which I assembled in GIMP.

c14 non edge
eq8
asi178mm (ZWO IR850 filter)
Zwo ADC
ASICAP
AS!3
Registax6

Might try again tomorrow if the weather cooperates!
Thanks for looking!

[Tinderboxsky]

They have come up quite well, despite the adverse conditions. The crescent is getting quite fine now.

The extremely poor conditions extended all the way down here in southern Tasmania. I gave up in frustration - a lost opportunity of a completely clear sky.

[Retrograde]

Very nice Dave - looks like you've picked up some detail on Mercury. :thumbsup:

[Dave882]

Thanks Steve / Pete.
I'm really glad I persisted in the conditions as I couldn't get a shot at all this arvo and then its clouds for days.

[Averton]

Lovely thin crescent and a very effective size comparison David!

[Dave882]

Thanks guys! Venus is almost completely out of reach now but Mercury will be in its best position for a few weeks so I hope to get some more shots!