Venus - 19 June 2007

Date: 19 June 2007 U.T.
Time: 22:40 - 22:50 U.T.
Telescope: 102mm SCT
Magnification: 72x
Seeing: Poor - Fair
Transparency: Partly Cloudy (thin clouds)
NELM: Daytime observation
Temperature: +86 F (+30 C)

The above is my rough, at-the-telescope sketch. North is up. Preceding is toward the left. Disk details are questionable under the seeing conditions; but the south cusp was suspected to be somewhat brighter than the north. The limb was brighter than the terminator. The planet appeared white against the blue daytime sky.

I went outside around 4:00 pm local time, looked up, saw the Moon, looked a few degrees west of the Moon and spotted Venus with the unaided eye. Afterwards I set up the telescope and made the above observation.

Observational Slow-Down:
Lately a combination of factors have slowed down the frequency of my astronomical observations. Among those factors is increased activity in my other (long neglected) hobby - chess. If my renewed interest in chess continues long enough I may start an additional blog devoted to that interest.