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| The Planet Venus as photographed from our back bedroom window Planetary camera attached to a Meade ETX 90RA. AVI video stacked using AutoStakkert and finished with APS Taken at 5.00pm. on the 29th November 2013 |
Being rather disappointed by Comet ISON's apparent demise, I decided that some photo-astronomy was required to lift my spirits. Having never imaged Venus through a telescope, I decided to give it a go.
Unfortunately, our backyard is rather small and our house is surrounded on all sides by other houses. As Venus never gets that high in the sky, photographing it using my large refractor is not an option. The above image was shot through an upstairs bedroom window using my small 90mm ETX.
Venus is very bright, when my image was taken Venus was at magnitude -4.5 and had an illuminated phase of 32%, you would therefore think it might be easy to take a good photograph. Because the Planet never gets very high above the horizon or far from the Sun, it presents real difficulties to the photographer. Thermal movement in our atmosphere causes the image through the eyepiece to distort and 'boil' so achieving steady focus is a 'devil' of a job. The surface of Venus is a hellish place, no vegetation, bare rocks, lots of volcanos, extremely hot and at enormous pressure. The 'white' crescent shown in my image is visible thanks to sunlight being reflected off the dense blanket of carbon dioxide clouds which envelops the planet. Looks quite beautiful from a distance but not so nice close to. If it rains on Venus, it rains sulphuric acid!
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| Venus in the treetops |
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