Venus and Mercury
with the AR152 Refractor
January 18th, 2014

Its
            not often you can shoot two planets in broad daylight with the
            Sun nearing the zenith, with the planets on both sides of the
            Sun. Both were 10 degrees on each side of the nearly noon Sun
            and while seeing was not its best, I was able to get a few good
            shots of both. Venus is a very thin crescent at this time being
            so close to the conjunction. Mercury however is on the far side
            of the Sun and also emerging from conjunction but as a very small
            round disk with no details. Both images here are at the same
            scale for comparison. This set was shot with our Explore Scientific
            AR152 refractor (six inch) mounted on the side of the 12 inch.
Venus:




Mercury:


Instrument:  6" f/6.5 with 3x Barlow
Platform:  Astrophysics AP1200
CCD Camera:  Image Source DMK 51AU03.AS
Filter:  Baader Continuum + IR/UV blocker
Exposure:  1/30 sec  12fps
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing 2/5, Transparency 7/10
Outside Temperature:  55F