Venus and Mercury
Venus Mercury conjunction 27 June 2005
27 June 2005 at 17:28 UT - C8 at f/10 - ToUCam Pro webcam - 100 frames
On this day Mercury could be found just 4 arcminutes from Venus. Not every day you get a chance to image two planets in the same telescopic view! The image was made in broad daylight in severe daytime turbulence
Transit of Venus - 8 Jun 2004
The weather showed its mostly friendly side on the day when it really mattered: The day of the rare transit of Venus. It was the first real summer day of the year in the Netherlands, no clouds except from a few contrails and a little cirrus. Adding to that the seeing was surprisingly good for such a warm day. Here are some of the best webcam images from the day.
See also Astrophoto for digicam images of the transit
Venus transit - Third contact
Diameter 57.7" - phase 0,0
08 June 2004 - C5 at f/10 - ToUCam Pro webcam - single frame
One of the sharpest webcam frames happened to be at third contact.
Venus transit - The four contacts
Diameter 57.7" - phase 0,0
08 June 2004 - C5 at f/10 - ToUCam Pro webcam - single frames
The calculated times for the contacts at my location were (UT): C1: 05:19:50; C2: 05:39:41; C3: 11:03:49; C4: 11:23:19. I measured the following times based on the webcam recordings: C1: 5:19:54; C2: 5:39:36; C3: 11:03:52; C4: 11:23:17. Pretty close!
Venus transit - Third contact sequence
Diameter 57.7" - phase 0,0
08 June 2004 - C5 at f/10 - ToUCam Pro webcam - single frames
Selected frames from third contact AVI. Frames separated by about one minute.
Venus transit - Atmosphere ring
Diameter 57.7" - phase 0,0
08 June 2004 - C5 at f/10 - ToUCam Pro webcam - single frames
These frames just after third contact clearly show sunlight refracted in the atmosphere of Venus. The second row of images is a "negative" of the first set of images better showing the "ring"
Mercury transit over the Sun - May 7, 2003
Diameter 12" - phase 0,0
07 May 2003, 0604 UT - C5 at f/10 - ToUCam Pro webcam - 33 frames stacked in Registax
Got this image of the rare event. The early morning seeing was quite good despite the low altitude of the Sun (17°) but the sky was not very transparent with some cloudbands obscuring the scene from time to time.
Composite of all Venus images from January to April 2001
This composite shows the development of the appearance of Venus during its 2001 evening apparition
Venus - 02 April 2001 at noon
Diameter 58,8"
2 Apr 2001, 12:08UT - C5-DX at f/10 - Vesta Pro - 29 frames stacked - left resampled to match size of earlier images
Venus is through inferior conjunction 3 days ago. Now just 9° from the Sun
Venus - 24 March 2001 at noon
Diameter 58,3"
24 Mar 2001, 12:51UT - C5-DX at f/10 - Vesta Pro - 24
frames stacked - resampled to match size of earlier images
Venus less than one week before inferior conjunction. This is the first time I managed to image a planet during daytime. It was only 12° away from the Sun! The image is poorer than the previous results due to daytime turbulence and the smaller C5 which was also slightly out of collimation
Venus - 14 March 2001
Diameter 53,1"
14 Mar 2001 - C8 at f/20 - Vesta Pro - 43 frames stacked
It's really getting thin now. The colour due to atmospheric refraction is pronounced. The monochrome image is extracted from the red channel of the image
Venus - 05 March 2001
Diameter 46,7"
C8 at f/20 - Vesta Pro - 22
frames stacked
Getting bigger..
Venus - 14 February 2001
Diameter 34,9"
14 Feb 2001 - C8 at f/20 - Vesta Pro - 22
frames stacked
Venus - 31 January 2001
Diameter 28,8"
31 Jan 2001 - C5 at f/20 - Vesta Pro - 22
frames stacked
Venus - 06 January 2001
Diameter 21,8"
06 Jan 2001 - C5 at f/20 - Vesta Pro - IR Block filter - 20
frames stacked
Webcam first light image in a telescope.
Mercury - 20 May 2001
Diameter 7,8" - phase 0,40
11 May 2001, 18:20 UT - C8 with 67 mm off axis mask (?) - Vesta Pro webcam - 30 frames stacked
Image made before sunset, bad seeing.
Mercury - 11 May 2001
Diameter 6,4" - phase 0,65
11 May 2001, 1558 UT - C8 with 67 mm off axis mask - Vesta Pro webcam April 2001 - single frame (left) - 38 frames stacked (right)
Image made in afternoon, severe daytime turbulence.