'As Automedon was Achilles' charioteer
And Tiphys earned the right to steer
The Argo on Jason's expedition,
So I am appointed by Venus as the technician
Of her art— my name will live on
As Love's Tiphys, Love's Automedon.'
Publius Ovidius Naso, The Art of Love (c. 3 BC) Book One
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'Venus clerk Ovide,
That hath ysowen wonder wide
The grete god of Loves name.'
Geoffrey Chaucer, The House of Fame (c. 1384) line 1487 (Robinson edition)
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'Ce n'est plus une ardeur dans mes veines cachée:
C'est Vénus toute entière à sa proie attachée.'
Jean Racine, Phèdre (1677) act I, scene III
A selection of my observations of our sister-world, whom I tend to study more than anything else in the sky. Otherwise known as Aphrodite, Cythera, Astarte, Lucifer The Light-Bearer, Helel the Bright, Ishtar, Shukra, Kiliken, Qi Ming The Gold Star, Tai Pe The Beautiful White One, or Barnumbirr, among many other names. Of all the legendary names and myths ascribed to this world by ancient cultures all over the Earth, the legend of Barnumbirr has to be by far the oldest, and certainly the most profoundly beautiful. In Aboriginal astronomical traditions - passed on by word of mouth, song, and dance for forty thousand years - Barnumbirr is a creator spirit in the Dreaming who sang much of the country to life. She draws the Earth behind her attached to a rope of light; it is along this rope that the people are able to communicate with their dead, demonstrating that they still love and remember them.
Since the first Russian spacecraft landed on Venus, it has been fairly well-known that the surface conditions on Venus are so hostile (500°C and over 90 atmospheres pressure) that it would seem like madness to contemplate introducing life there. However, since Outer Space is conversely close to the absolute zero in temperature and pressure, practically a frigid vaccuum, one naturally assumes that there is a region of equilibrium in Venus' upper atmosphere where temperature and pressure conditions are similar to those at the surface of the Earth. In fact, such a region exists about 32-35 miles above Venus' surface. However, this relatively calm region is bounded above and below by wide layers of turbulence where the winds are in the region of 250 miles per hour. And of course, there are thick clouds of volatile acid too. It will be a little while yet before the atmosphere that is responsible for the intensely hostile conditions can be soaked up - by balloon-mounted hanging baskets perhaps - and a longer wait still for the first clearing in the bright orange sky.
Like the Moon, Venus can also be seen in the daytime. Just don't permanently blind yourself by looking at the Sun by mistake.
NB: Unless otherwise stated, in all of the following diagrams and photographs of Venus the view is upside-down, just as seen through an inverting telescope. Since Venus herself is practically upside-down relative to Earth, what I call cytherographic north - i.e. the pole of Venus at the top of the planet when seen revolving left to right - is at the top of the pictures unless otherwise stated. Astronomers will notice that this is contrary to the International Astronomical Union edict that north and south are exclusively terrestrial designations, and that north and south on other planets must correspond with north and south on Earth (even though they don't).
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Observation #185, 2010.XII.6
VENUS
2010.XII.6.0759 UT
Having been unable to see Venus by eye from my back yard for some eighteen months, noticed her shining very brightly like a magnesium flare through trees before dawn. Managed to capture this image moments before the Sun broke the horizon, the first time I have imaged her with my 4" refractor, rather than with the 8" reflector which I had always used previously.
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From 26 December 2008 until 8 March 2009 I monitored the planet Venus almost at the complete exclusion of all other astronomical activity. With cloudy spells throughout the period making it almost impossible to make daily observations, after 8 March a spell of persistently cloudy weather entirely halted my study, after which time Venus was too close to the Sun to observe with my equipment.
VENUS
2008.XII.26 - 2009.III.8
Shown above are nine of my CCD images of Venus over the period, showing the planet's phase and the growth in apparent diameter as she approached the Earth. As Venus catches up with the Earth along her inside orbit and approaches conjunction (i.e. when the Sun, Venus, and the Earth are all in line as seen from above) she not only grows as she approaches the Earth, but her crescent also wanes as her night side increasingly moves between her daylit side and the Earth.
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Observation #92, 2009.III.8
VENUS
2009.III.8.1627-1646 UT
My last observation of Venus for this apparition. With only about 12% of the disc in sunlight, Venus was closing to 30 million miles distant from the Earth, and showing a disc of 51 arcseconds in diameter.
This chart shows the relative positions of the planets of the inner Solar System on the date of my last observation of Venus for the 2008-9 apparition. Note that, relative to the Sun, Venus is almost directly in front of the Earth.
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Observation #90, 2009.III.5
VENUS
2009.III.5.1655-1713 UT
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Observation #89A, 2009.III.4
VENUS
2009.III.4.1619 UT
This was the last image I was able to take of Venus for this apparition, with a Wratten #38A Dark Blue filter, the disc then subtending 48 seconds of arc.
VENUS
2009.III.4.1620-1646 UT
And this is the sketch I made afterwards.
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Observation #87, 2009.III.1
VENUS
2009.III.3.1715-1729 UT
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Observation #84, 2009.II.21
VENUS
2009.II.21.1613-1640 UT
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Observation #83, 2009.II.16
VENUS
2009.II.21.1720-1732 UT
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Observation #82, 2009.II.13
VENUS
2009.II.13.1709 UT
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Observation #80, 2009.II.10
VENUS
2009.II.10.1600-1622 UT
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Observation #79, 2009.II.7
VENUS
2009.II.7.1545-1604 UT
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Observation #78, 2009.II.3
VENUS
2009.II.3.1545-1640 UT
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Observation #77, 2009.I.29
VENUS
2009.I.1.1640-1702 UT
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Observation #76, 2009.I.24
VENUS
2009.I.24.1606-1621 UT
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Observation #75, 2009.I.22
VENUS
2009.I.22.1538-1627 UT
VENUS
2009.I.22.1651-1740 UT
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Observation #74, 2009.I.20
VENUS
2009.I.20.1517-1537 UT
VENUS
2009.I.20.1628-1743 UT
VENUS
2009.I.20.1546 UT
This slightly over-exposed image demonstrates that it is perfectly possible to observe Venus in daylight. Indeed observing Venus in daylight is preferable to observing her in darkness, since the bright glare from her disc is reduced and greater contrast is visible in the atmospheric features.
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Observation #73, 2009.I.19
VENUS
2009.I.19.1541-1647 UT
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Observation #72, 2009.I.18
VENUS
2009.I.18.1627-1722 UT
VENUS
2009.I.18.1658 & 1701 UT
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Observation #71, 2009.I.17
VENUS
2009.I.17.1716-1725 UT
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Observation #69A, 2009.I.6
VENUS
2009.I.06.1601-1710 UT
VENUS
2009.I.6.1616 & 1623 UT
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Observation #68, 2009.I.5
VENUS
2009.I.05.1605-1648 UT
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Observation #66, 2008.XII.30
VENUS
2008.XII.30.1628-1713 UT
VENUS
2008.XII.30.1703 & 1709 UT
The CCD image on the left was taken through a Wratten #38A Dark Blue filter, the other image is natural light.
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Observation #65, 2008.XII.26
VENUS
2008.XII.26.1621-1652 UT
My first view of Venus since July 2007, using a Wratten #38A blue filter to bring out the detail in Venus' atmosphere. Although detail is only visible in the ultraviolet, it is possible to see some way into the near ultraviolet, and barely see subtle shading in the Venusian atmosphere using a blue filter and observational techniques (such as using the peripheral vision, bringing the image in and out of focus, or wobbling the telescope).
VENUS
2008.XII.26.1647 UT
The CCD camera view shows up the blue through the filter, but apparently is not sensitive to ultraviolet.
This chart shows the relative positions of the planets of the inner Solar System on the date of my first observation of Venus during the 2008-9 apparition. At this time Venus was over 76.8 million miles from Earth, and the disc already subtended a sizable 20" of arc.
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Observation #15, 2007.VII.1
VENUS
2007.VII.1.2036 UT
This was the view through a 1 3/8" naval telescope (i.e. a hand-held extending refractor) giving about ×24 magnification. The bright glare of Venus was overpowering, but it was possible to just about make out the phase. Note that, because the naval telescope does not invert the image, the picture is the right way up as seen, with cytherographic north at the bottom (since Venus herself is upside-down relative to Earth).
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Observations #9, 2007.II.27; #11A, 2007.III.3; #13, 2007.III.26; and #14, 2007.IV.2
VENUS
2007.II.27.1812, 2007.III.3.1803, 2007.III.26.1900, and 2007.IV.2.1900 UT
My four first observations of Venus, before I had any practise. North is top. The text for the first observation of 27 February 2007 follows:
1812 UT
First serious use of the telescope since the recent overhaul which damaged the secondary mirror. Also my third attempt on Venus, this time with the new #38A dark blue filter. Still some difficulty using the finderscope to scope Venus; the finderscope was aligned with the centre of the main telescope tube and I was using a 1½" aperture left of centre of the main tube. Eventually managed to scope Venus using the main tube alone. A fine view at 40× and 80× magnification, the disc of Venus plain to see, slightly more of the disc in shadow than the last time I observed this world, when it was ten million miles further away. Venus is now 130 million miles or so away, and approaching at a rate of over six miles per second. At closest approach on 18 August, Venus will be less than 27 million miles away between the Earth and the Sun, and practically invisible but perhaps for the illuminated ring of the atmosphere. Having found the planet, I quickly tried out the #38A filter for the first time with 160× magnification. Image was fairly clear, although noticeably swimming. Soon brought the magnification up to ×400, and still with a fairly clear image peered intently at Venus, looking for subtle shading in the atmosphere under the dark blue filter. Saw a barely perceptible thick curling band just south of the equator, possibly it was not a band but two dark features merged into one, as it appeared that there was another distinct patch of darkness just left of centre of the disc. A northerly thin band was more noticeable, with a faint filament curling about the north of the disc. Another round dark shape could be seen to the south of the disc. All of these features were extremely faint, and only visible by intent observation, blinking, and looking away from the otherwise featureless disc and back again so as to view it using all of the retina, including the more light-sensitive parts of the retina away from the detailed centre (evolved by our ancestors for seeing predators creeping up on them out of the corners of their eyes in low light perhaps). This made the features eerily visible, but impossible to view directly and in detail. Truly the features were almost invisible, and with the image swimming increasingly in the thicker atmosphere as Venus slowly set towards the horizon and occasionally obscured by cloud, it was impossible to make any feature out in the same way twice. I made a best guess as to what they must look like in a rough sketch. Without a knowledge of how human vision works, and if the features themselves did not appear so entirely convincing, and had I not known that different astronomers simultaneously record similar observations using this technique of averted vision, I would suspect that I had only imagined them. Features in Venus' atmosphere are actually photographically invisible in ordinary light and only show up in the ultra-violet. However the dark blue filter will show the near ultra-violet, and using such a filter it is possible for skilled observers with good eyesight to record delicate shaded patterns in the Venusian atmosphere in some detail. Therein lies the fascination and excitement for astronomers in the spectacle of this veiled and beautiful world. Otherwise, for the closest world to our own (apart from the Moon obviously) Venus, though a brilliant morning or evening star, is a very dull and disappointing object indeed telescopically, and most people will not give her (incidentally, it has been decreed by official edict that all features on Venus must be given female names) a second look. Truly, it is about attention to detail. Before the space probes of the 1960s, this was as much as anybody had ever seen of Venus. The clouds are now known to be mainly carbon dioxide at a pressure of ninety atmospheres, formed by a runaway greenhouse effect. The Sun's heat releases carbonates from the surface rocks, which trap the Sun's heat, which in turn releases more carbonates, until you have the hellish climate of Venus; a crushing weight of bright orange poison gas raining acid (which evaporates before it lands) over a roasting volcanic landscape. On the cooler Earth, this process was not able to initiate, and the evolution of algae in the oceans and then plants on land converted most of Earth's carbon dioxide into oxygen (allowing the evolution of animals and humans) and fixed the carbon in the Earth as oil and coal. There is speculation that one day it might be possible to similarly 'seed' the Venusian atmosphere just as we have done (unwittingly perhaps) on Earth.
It's probably for the best if you return to the index page now.