venus

Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun. In size it is similar to the Earth. In a telescope no surface features can be seen because of the dense cloud cover over the planet.

This presents a mostly bland white image. Being an inferior planet, phases of Venus can be seen through the scope, much like the phases of the Moon.

Venus Facts

Average Distance from the Sun: 108,208,930 km / 67,237,910 miles / 0.723332 A.U.

Equatorial Radius: 6,051.8 km / 3,760.4 miles

Equatorial Circumference: 38,025 km / 23,627 miles

Venus can be an awkward planet to capture, in that it is always low to the horizon when darkness falls. So the best time to image Venus in in the daylight when it has a more loftier altitude and the image is not so unsteady!

Although I have observed Venus on countless days/evenings, I had never turned my webcam onto it until December 2005. Below are my attempts to capture a half decent image using both the 14" and 8" SCTs.

2009 is a fairly good apparition of the planet but by the end of March it will no longer be seen during twilight hours.

	Date: 2009/03/09 Time: 1830UT Seeing: 7/10 Scope: 8" Meade SCT @f15 RA: 00h44.4m Dec: +12°52' Altitude: +20°51' Azimuth: 263°42' Distance from Earth: 0.32AU visual mag: -4.5 Angular size: 51" Phase: 11% Philips Toucam Pro 740K Frames: 701 Avi-file length: 30s Direct view: North is Up, East to right Processed using Registax v4 & Photoshop v7 There was a fair amount of rapidly moving clumps of cloud which frequentley block the planet from view. But through the periods of cloud-free sky, I shot some reasonable footage. The view through the scope was much better than I expected with the planet being so low to the horizon.
	Date: 07/05/2007 Time: 21:07BST Seeing: 5/10 Scope: 8" Meade SCT @f15 RA: 05h57m39s Dec: +25°57'12" Altitude: +28°22' Azimuth: 276°09' Distance from Earth: 0.96AU visual mag: -4.0 Angular size: 17.2" Phase: 65% Philips Toucam Pro 740K Frames: 248 Avi-file length: 17s Processed using Registax & Photoshop v7 Although the sky was clear, there had been an earlier rain shower. The early evening breeze was also a problem that showed during the recording of the movie file. Venus was the only object visible in the sky at this time. Comparing the image captured on 8th April to this one shows that the illuminated phase has lessened during the preceeding month!
	Date: 08/04/2007 Time: 20:32BST Seeing: 7/10 Scope: 8" Meade SCT @f15 RA: 03h33m37s Dec: +20°31'20" Altitude: +25°11' Azimuth: 270°57' Distance from Earth: 1.17AU visual mag: -3.8 Angular size: 14.3" Phase: 76% Philips Toucam Pro 740K Frames: 590 Avi-file length: 31s Processed using Registax & Photoshop v7 I like this image of the planet as it shows the phase quite well! Image captured just when the sky is dark blue to avoid the glare. The planet was still high in the western sky.
	Date: 13/03/2007 Time: 19:58UT Seeing: 7/10 Scope: 8" Meade SCT @f6 RA: 01h33'03" Dec: +09°33'51" Altitude: +09°59' Azimuth: 272°44' Distance from Earth: 1.32AU visual mag: -3.8 Angular size: 12.6" Phase: 83% Philips Toucam Pro 740K Frames: 590 Avi-file length: 28secs Processed using Registax & Photoshop v7
	Date: 23/12/2005 Time: 17:02UT Seeing: 5/10 Scope: 8" Meade SCT @f6 RA: 20h14.4m Dec: -19°31' Altitude: +07°57' Azimuth: 220°51' Distance from Earth: 0.3AU visual mag: -4.6 Angular size: 52" Phase: 12.9% Philips Toucam Pro 740K Frames: 755 Avi-file length: 50secs Processed using Registax & Photoshop v7 The sky was very transparent, but again I didn't capture an image until the sky became semi-dark! Hence the planet was exceedingly low in the sky and the red fringe around the crescent. I also have a yellow Venus...I think this is due to it's low altitude.
	Date: 17/12/2005 Time: 16:50UT Seeing: 4/10 Scope: 14" Meade SCT @f10 RA: 20h11.9m Dec: -20°52m Altitude: +9°43m Azimuth: 212°57m Distance from Earth: 0.3AU visual mag: -4.6 Angular size: 47" Phase: 18.5% Philips Toucam Pro 740K Frames:549 Avi-file length: 37secs Processed using Registax & Photoshop v7 Although the sky was transparent, the planet was very bright and low in altitude, so hindering a steady image to webcam. Basically there is not much to see on the disk of Venus other than the phases. At present Venus is wanning.

updated 8/5/2007