Chromatic Aberration. How much is too much?

[AussieTrooper (Ben)]

I bought a pair of canon 15x50 image stabilised binos yesterday to see the comet. Comet was clearly focussed and shown, as were stars. What stood out though is looking at Venus, there chromatic aberration was very obvious. Is this normal?

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by AussieTrooper

I bought a pair of canon 15x50 image stabilised binos yesterday to see the comet. Comet was clearly focussed and shown, as were stars. What stood out though is looking at Venus, there chromatic aberration was very obvious. Is this normal?

I'd say it's pretty standard yeah even in a high quality scope. Venus is extremely bright so you will notice the color spread regardless. Here's an illustration here. It's taken with a basic DSLR through a fluorite FSQ which is as good as it gets for a small sized colour corrected refractor. You still see chromatic abberations both in stars and planet limbs. So don't worry too much about it.

[astro744]

Do not mix up chromatic aberration with the effects of the atmosphere on the image. I have observed a beautiful white image of Venus when it was higher in the sky (usually daytime) and at very high power through my Tele Vue-60 and I would expect any good quality APO telescope to do the same.

Look at Sirius when it is up high and the seeing is good.

[AussieTrooper (Ben)]

Thanks for the advice. Will aim at Venus as soon as it is visible tonight.