Thanks guys, yes this may actually have been the closest to the sun that I've observed the planet. While the
2014 conjunction was closer, the observation didn't happen until the separation was a little wider. In 2024, the sun will 'occult' Venus, so it will be interesting to see just how close to the limb it can be seen. I expect safety will dictate cameras-only from a certain point in.
The occulting bar works great when it's roughly aligned with the sun's direction of drift and Venus at (or close to) conjunction, where it's about the same R.A. and either above or below the sun rather than leading or trailing it. It takes a decent amount of time for the shadow to move off the objective - something that can be easily monitored. The mount is a geared tripod head with permanently engaged gears, so optic sits as firmly as on a proper EQ head and won't move even when it's bumped by accident. However, the whole setup is still light enough to be moved easily to keep it inside the shadow. There is also an UV/IR block filter in front of the diagonal, and grey filters and/or sunglasses do a decent job of dealing with the visual glare from scattered sunlight when there's a bit of haze around.
