Wesley's Tool-Box

Here is all my recent observations of Venus through Canon SX50 HS in one picture. I think it shows pretty well how Venus dramatically approaches Earth while being in the inner orbit. The last six observations have been posted in the blog before:

[2013-10-30] [2013-11-17] [2013-11-30]
[2013-12-07] [2013-12-21] [2014-01-04]

The first two didn't look much on their own, so I didn't make an entry about them when they were photographed, but they make for a nice comparison, so I included them here now.

Venus will be closest to the Earth on January 11. Since it's on an inner orbit, it'll be aligned very close to the Sun. So it'll set almost simultaneously with it, making it hard to see this week or the next.

This photo I took over the weekend is the one last good look at the planet before it shows up in the morning instead of evening. It's gotten quite big and was still relatively bright against the dusk.

Device: Canon SX50 HS
Settings: 1200mm (2x enlarged) - ISO 160 - 1/10s - f/4.5
Time: 2014-01-04 18:02 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
55 photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8

As Venus comes closer, the crescent shape keeps growing bigger, and effectively negates the thinning. I guess that's why the planet still shines bright in the evening sky.

Settings: Canon SX50 HS - 1200mm (2x enlarged) - ISO 80 - 1/250s - f/6.5
Filters: None
Time: 2013-12-21 18:04 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
32 photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8

Last Saturday was a pretty good day to see the stars. The smog was lifted and the clouds were barely present during the night. I already made a post about seeing Venus, but I took a look at Jupiter as well. Earth is moving closer to the planet and it'll be at its closest in a month (January 5, 2014), so the view would be nice and big for the next couple of months.

In this composite photo, all four Galilean satellites are present, and the Great Red Spot is visible as a wrinkle in the right end of the lower dark band. 50x magnification on Canon SX50 HS is really at its limit here.

Settings: Canon SX50 HS - 1200mm - f/6.5
Filters: Baader M&S applied
Time: 2013-12-07 22:25 - 22:32 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
Photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8

Jupiter: ISO 80 - 1/50s, 19 photos stacked
Satellites: ISO 1600 - 1/5s, 42 photos stacked

It's interesting to see how Venus keeps getting bigger and slimmer at the same time. It's still quite bright in the evening sky - it's visible even before Sun is set. Sunset was at 17:14, but I could already see the planet at 17:05.

Settings: Canon SX50 HS - 1200mm (2x enlarged) - ISO 80 - 1/1000s - f/6.5
Filters: Baader M&S applied
Time: 2013-12-07 17:39 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
18 photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8