Venus & The Pleiades - 04/03/2020

Not clear skies in OC, lots of haze but at least no clouds. But it still showed very nicely, better than I expected.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2iLP​jZB

SiriusDoggy wrote in post #19040097
Another single image after dark. I'm hoping to do some stacking tomorrow after a bit of sleep. Curious to see if I can pull out any of the blue nebula around the brighter stars. Probably not considering my light pollution and 1st quarter moon.

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …i-TBd457H-XL.jpg&lb=1&s=A on Smugmug

There are a few on spaceweather gallery that shows neb with Venus . Maybe you can stack and bring some out .

I have a question. Venus is sunward of Earth. The only time it should be fully "full" (as in the full moon) is when the sun is nearly between Earth and Venus. One of the shots in this thread shows a crescent. In the others, clearly taken at night, Venus is a full sphere. Can someone explain this? Lack of magnification? Overexposure bloom?

joedlh wrote in post #19040291
I have a question. Venus is sunward of Earth. The only time it should be fully "full" (as in the full moon) is when the sun is nearly between Earth and Venus. One of the shots in this thread shows a crescent. In the others, clearly taken at night, Venus is a full sphere. Can someone explain this? Lack of magnification? Overexposure bloom?

In the images above Venus seems to be in a Full phase but actually it isn't . Venus and Mercury will show the same effect unless you have a powerful enough camera lens or telescope to reach out and seperate the glow from the planet which then will show the pase that they are in . When they rotate behind the Sun the Suns glow blocks both planets until it appears far away enough from the glow on the opposite side .

Venus goes through phases just like our moon does . But to make some understanding of our solar system you have Sun is center , then you have Mercury then Venus then Earth which has it's own moon that circles Earth as Earth circles the Sun . After Earth comes Mars , Jupiter which has 4 main moons and more than 25 other moons . Next is Saturn with a few moons , Uranus , Neptune and Pluto .

So to answer your main question Venus and Mercury go through phases as they go around the Sun and they can be seen from Earth until they go behind the Sun and when they appear on the opposite side of the Sun they will still have phases only they will be opposite sides . This image shows how phases appear as Venus rotates around the Sun :

http://2.bp.blogspot.c​om …s1600/phases+of​+Venus.jpg

Hope this helps with your question .

joedlh wrote in post #19040291
I have a question. Venus is sunward of Earth. The only time it should be fully "full" (as in the full moon) is when the sun is nearly between Earth and Venus. One of the shots in this thread shows a crescent. In the others, clearly taken at night, Venus is a full sphere. Can someone explain this? Lack of magnification? Overexposure bloom?

Yes, lack of magnification and overexposure is the reason.
Here's what it looked like on April 2nd. Shot with my cell phone holding it up to the eyepiece. Heavily cropped.

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …i-t5JK6fw-X3.jpg&lb=1&s=A

Here is this most beautiful conjunction from the evening of 5th April, with Venus having moved further along the ecliptic.

Cheers

Dennis

Photo from nardes's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (1036929)

I just finished processing this one which was taken with the 300mm telephoto + x1.4 Extender, to give a focal length of 420mm.

12 frames, 5 secs, ISO800 at F4.

Cheers

Dennis

Here's my stacking attempt. It's a stack of 15 exposures. I was hoping to bring out some of the blue nebulosity around the stars but I think the Vegas light-pollution and 1st quarter moon were working against me. Plus my DSO stacking/processing skills aren't that great.

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …i-3vf6sLn-XL.jpg&lb=1&s=A

How long was your exposures SD ? To really capture the neb from M45 exposures need be 3-5 mins each and about 30-50 exposures . I did 2-5 mins for 10 exposures couple yrs ago and i barely brought out any neb and i had a clear night no moon .

Celestron wrote in post #19042486
How long was your exposures SD ? To really capture the neb from M45 exposures need be 3-5 mins each and about 30-50 exposures . I did 2-5 mins for 10 exposures couple yrs ago and i barely brought out any neb and i had a clear night no moon .

Well, then I didn't have near enough data then. My longest exposure was only 20 seconds and I only had 15 total.
Any longer than 20 seconds at my ISO settings though and the sky started to blow out. Like I said, I'm shooting right over the Vegas skyline to my west and there was a 1st quarter moon too.

I'm still happy with my results.

SiriusDoggy wrote in post #19042515
Well, then I didn't have near enough data then. My longest exposure was only 20 seconds and I only had 15 total.
Any longer than 20 seconds at my ISO settings though and the sky started to blow out. Like I said, I'm shooting right over the Vegas skyline to my west and there was a 1st quarter moon too.

I'm still happy with my results.

I understand , where i live when i first begin imaging back with film in 02’ my skies had a bortle sky of 4.5-5.5 which for city was very good . Now LP has tripled plus a neighbor behind me has a big LED night light that has destroyed my viewing and now bortle is Class 6 being 2.36 .