Venus, 7th July

[iceman]

Hi all

Here's one of those images taken in the past 7 weeks that wasn't worth posting :) But it's my only image of Venus so far this year, so I figured I may as well post it so I can go ahead and delete the data.

It was taken on the 7th July at 5:15pm localtime, in terrible seeing (1-2/10). Altitude was 32° which isn't too bad, but the jetstream and fast cooling temperatures conspired to cause Venus to wobble about like jelly. There isn't a single frame on the avi which shows a sharp disc.

As a result of stacking the wobbly frames, it gives the fuzzy edge, but unfortunately it's the best I could do. There's really very little post-processing done (wavelets in registax only), because any more sharpening would bring out artifacts, and any adjustments in the levels or curves would reduce the disk illumination and give a non-representative view of the true phase.

So it's not pretty, but it's my only image this year of Venus so far. I'm hoping to do better later this year, when Venus is a morning object.

Thanks

[jjjnettie]

Mike, I can honestly say that this is the best image I've seen of Venus this year. (the only one I've seen this year)
It's near well impossible to catch a decent frame of the old girl through the soup of the evening.
I'm glad you posted it.

[erick]

Thanks Mike. That's what it has been looking like to me visually! Wobbling everywhere and limited to about 250x, but I have a good look every time I have the scope out early - my first crescent Venus!

[ving]

not bad mike. good to see a different planet :)

[acropolite]

Ditto what the others said, it's not often we get an image of venus, nicely captured.:thumbsup:

[venus]

Nice image Mike, though it's not the only venus that wobbles...;)

[ballaratdragons]

Even with the Fuzzy edge, it still looks like Venus. It is a good shot regardless :thumbsup:

[Garyh]

I agree..its a nice image of venus. I think the fuzzy edge just gives it the feel of its thick atmosphere.
I tried the other week to take a pic with my scope and canon 300d and boy! every image it was a different shape...lol
Well done!!