Venus Occultation Observations - June 18, 2007

Fig 1: Venus and the Moon imaged June 18 2007 at 12h 35m UT. Venus is far left close to light cloud.100mm apochromatic refractor 20x; a 1/1000 sec exposure ISO 350.

Fig 2: Venus and part of the Moon imaged June 18 2007 at 15h 13m UT. Image laterally inverted, the sky and "bright limb" of the Moon appearing dark in contrast to the brilliant Venus.175mm Maksutov 175x 1/705 sec exposure ISO 350.

Fig 3: Venus and the Moon imaged June 18 2007 at 15h 30m UT. Taken with a hand-held Panasonic FZ20 at maximum zoom (432mm fl) and image stabilization. Venus is just a little to the right of the Moon.

It was one of those frustrating days we so often experience at this time of year in the islands - sea mist (haar) and low cloud coming and going on a slack easterly airflow.

The morning broke fine but all the conditions just described started to plague Rousay from around 06h UT. Some good clearances occurred mid-morning allowing observations of the Moon and Venus.

Venus was readily seen in small binoculars a little to the left of the Moon (Fig 1) but the rather poor atmospheric transparency made naked eye observations very difficult.

The weather closed in at around 13h 30m UT killing off hopes of seeing the disappearance. It appeared pretty hopeless from Rousay: looking north the weather was bleak, but south there was brightness and some indication that conditions might improve.

Close to the time of reappearance the sky began to break up and within seconds of Venus appearing from behind the Moon's bright limb, blue replaced the grey. A number of high power images were obtained using a 175mm Maksutov. (Fig 2. Note: the sky and the Moon appear dark owing to the relatively short exposure times.)

At 15h 30m UT, Venus could be seen quite clearly with the unaided eye a little to the right of the Moon. (Fig 3)

The weather remained fair for another hour, after which thick mist returned.

Summer Solstice

Summer solstice this year occurs on June 21 at 18h 06m UT.

JV 18/06/07