Venus (08 April 2007)

Date: 8 April 2007 U.T.
Time: 1:55 - 2:10 U.T.
Telescope: 30cm Newtonian
Magnification: 150x
Filters: Moon-SkyGlow and #58 Green (simultaneously)
Seeing: Fair
NELM: Bright Twilight
Temperature: +29 F (-2 C)

The gibbous disk of Venus was sharply defined. Suspected, subtle darkenings on the planet's disk were sketched. The planet appeared to have a bright, featureless, narrow rim around (just inside) its limb everywhere excepting the planet's terminator. The largest suspected dusky marking was in the planet's southern hemisphere. A possibly connected, smaller, dusky feature was suspected in the planet's north-preceding quadrant. Two subtle, dark 'notches' were suspected along the planet's terminator. One was near the center of the terminator. The other (slightly larger) notch was a bit more to the north.

It's difficult to be certain of suspected features in the Venusian clouds. The planet appears to be almost without visible markings. The suspected markings mentioned above may or may not be actual features in the Venusian atmosphere.

My typical procedure (and the one followed on this evening) is to set up the telescope prior to sunset after the wall of my open-air observatory is casting a high enough shadow to place the telescope's lower section (containing the large, primary mirror) in shade. Sunlight shining on that section of the telescope might prolong cool-down of the mirror. (The telescope has a built in cooling fan; but I've never felt a need to use it.) The observation of Venus began shortly after sunset, after the telescope had been outside for over an hour.