Moon and Venus Sunset in the Sunset

Sunset with the Moon and Venus was pretty amazing tonight! The weather was perfect and the sky was nice and clear.

Love that I caught a surfer walking back.

Some random person having a drink while some pelicans fly by.

 

Venus Transit

Managed to get a little telescope with a filter just in time to watch and image the last Venus transit of the sun for the next 105 years. I think this is also the first time I've looked at the sun through a telescope. Still have some images to sort through and try to process but here are a few to get things started.

There is Venus about mid way through the transit. Look at all the sun spots! I'm not really sure which way is up and left to right because my camera ended up mounted at an odd angle and I think the telescope flips the image one way or another.


Started viewing and imaging at work then clouds started to come in. So I drove home hoping to catch the sunset over the ocean. I made it and here's one of the first sunset images.


Is that the sun or Jupiter? It looked pretty cool in the clouds.


A bit wider version.


Almost had a few ships get into the transit pics. I think you might just be able to see Venus in this image. It was so close but the ships managed to slip by before the sun could catch them.

Naked Eye Venus In Broad Daylight!

I read about seeing Venus during daylight hours before but it sounded pretty hard to find under normal circumstances. But on Saturday the moon was really close to Venus in the sky making it pretty easy to find. So I went out at about noon and found it. This is the first time but hopefuly not the last time I see Venus in the middle of the day. Anyway on to the pictures.

Can you find Venus to the lower right of the moon? It's about 4-6 moon lengths down and a few over. You may need to enlarge the image to find it.


Here is a zoom with more contrast that should make it much easier.


Here's another wide view.


And enhanced.

You can see Venus during the day when ever it's up and the sky is mostly clear. It's pretty amazing seeing a planet in the middle of the day. If you have a smart phone get an app like google sky (free) and it can help guide you to the area in the sky to look. Or with a little prep on the web you can find a sky chart that can help point you to the area to look. Or wait till the Moon is close to Venus again to help you out. Good luck!