February 13, 2022

Venus, Vega And the Moon

Originally published March 30, 2012
image by M. Taha Ghouchkanlu, Ahmad abad, Esfahan, Iran

I have been observing Venus recently before going on to the Moon, and Taha's image above reminds me of that ashen-lit planet. Venus is near first quarter, rather than a crescent, and the brightness of its illuminated part has as much detail as captured here in the bright side of the Moon - none. Venus is bright because of its reflective clouds, and the Moon sliver is only in contrast to the its Earth light-reflected dimness. I like the color here too. The royal purple reminds me of early observing with cheap refractors that coated Venus with mystical hues, less pure than reality but somewhat more exciting. Finally, I note that Taha's email name is Taha_Vega, a tie in to astronomy as I have with Tychocrater. I bet his digital name refers to the brilliant blue star rather than the somewhat obscure lunar crater or the ill-fated American car that I once owned. A lovely view.

Chuck Wood

Technical Details
20/03/2012. Telescope : 8 RC GSO with Focal reducer 0.67x; Camera : 5D MarkII; Mount : EQ6

Yesterday's LPOD: Dark Names

Tomorrow's LPOD: Almost not There

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