STARLOG · TARGET

Venus

Every night Venus was the target, from Goolwa, South Australia, newest first.

SESSION 6 · 09/26 · WORKED

Eight degrees of compass, a cloud of mosquitoes, and Venus in the last twenty minutes

Lost the first hour and a half to a pointing error I have been guessing at since 30 August and finally measured: 7.4 degrees of azimuth, which is Goolwa's magnetic declination. Two false trails, a…

SESSION 5 · 09/26 · WORKED

A real crescent, a rainbow I didn't ask for, and an argument about focus

First proper Venus: a 31% crescent, 35 arcseconds across, lit side to the horizon. Confirmed the image scale off the disc, measured the dispersion, and then argued with the numbers about whether it…

SESSION 5 · 09/26 · DIDN'T WORK

A new tube, two nights, and not one frame of sky

Got the 76/700 on the mount and pointed it at nothing successfully. Cloud, a finder I never aligned, and a field of view the size of a keyhole. The morning's daylight testing is where the actual…

SESSION 4 · 08/26 · DIDN'T WORK

First planet — Venus, low in the west, and nothing to see on it

Pointed at Venus instead of the Moon on the rebuilt mount. Three short runs so far. Learned that most of what limits a low planet has nothing to do with the telescope.