Venus Occultation

by Richard Lawler


I was able to observe this here in SF. The fog where I am decided to break today - an unusual occurrence this time of year.

Great views with the C8. Easily visible through binoculars. And even with the naked eye the little spark of Venus could be made out against the blue mid-day sky.

I tried to take some photos. I spent most of the duration of the occultation fussing with camera exposure, eyepieces, a reducer, a barlow etc. The digital camera afocally just does not capture a wide enough field. I tried the digital camera piggy back at 8x zoom which probably would have worked except I gave up on the camera too soon thinking the whole thing would be a wash. I had the times wrong, and I thought I wasn't going to be able to see Venus at all in the midday.

Then vwoom! There she was right out of the blue. A perfect half circle Venus far brighter than the sliver of moon. Right in perfect center of the lunar crescent from my location.