The Horns of Venus

Dave,

This is something I checked into and we have a pretty good difference in altitude between Venus and Sol during opposition which should (?) not be a problem for this little challenge.

Of course, with buffling inside the OTA, it helps in the pursuit of this difficult challenge.

Anyway, count me in for both.

Unlike most imaging challenges, where if you get it wrong you end up with a smeared image, with this one you could
1, shatter the secondary mirror
2, melt or set fire to the inside of the tube, watch that flocking paper burn :lol:
3, melt the baffle of the scope,
4, melted the glued optical lenses of your eyepiece, although at that stage you probabily wont care as you will have permanently blinded yourself. :oops:

I have actually done 2, 3 & 4 using my small refractor in the past doing solar projection (except the blinding myself part :lol: ), you really need to keep the sun well centred doing solar projection. This is why I had a mad solar phobia up until about 3 years ago and would not observe the sun with proper filters for years..
I even heard of a guy burning his secondary mirror and side of the OTA using his 10"reflector for projection believe it or not, no names here. Imagine the amount of heat forced onto the secondary!!

Anthony, do you know how many degrees Venus is away from the sun at that stage? I was able to get Venus when it was about 8.5 degrees from he Sun last time around without too much hassle.

Anthony, do you know how many degrees Venus is away from the sun at that stage? I was able to get Venus when it was about 8.5 degrees from he Sun last time around without too much hassle.

Dave,

I will confirm later tonight but I recall at least six degrees difference in altitude. We also extend the dewshield as much as possible to help towards this cause.

In my case, I will synchronize on the filtered sun (Baader) and then slew to Venus and change filters (Daystar ERF) which also should help with the intense sunlight.

:shock:
Ahh, knowing my luck I'd better cry off attempting this!

ah come on Frank, you said you needed a reason to upgrade the scope, setting fire to it would be the perfect opportunity. :lol:
watch that glass fly :twisted: :oops:

watch that glass fly :twisted: :oops:

Fly or melt? :lol: