Venus

Even though the above image is from a colour camera without any special filters used, dusky markings in the planets upper clouds can just be made out and show subtly in the blue channel. The planets dusky appearance was quite obvious at the eyepiece on this occasion.

Venus in the Near Infrared

Inspired by David Grinspoon's book "Venus Revealed" I planned for my first 1-micron attempt to capture a glimpse of the planets night side in early 2004.
Observing was hindered by a large leafy tree next door that blocked my western view during that part of the apparition. Needless to say, I had to wait until the planets morning apparition to try again.
My first successful 1-micron observation happened in the morning hours on the 2nd July 2004. I was fortunate enough to be perhaps the 2nd person using amateur gear to take in this view some weeks after another amateur astronomer in France.

On April 4th 2004 I was overwhelmed at the result both live on the video monitor and in later processing.
My sincere thanks to Steve Lee and Dr. Jeremy Bailey of the Anglo-Australian Observatory for both their help and review of my results from July 04' and for help in identifying the subtle dark markings present in them.
The planets sunlit side has been drastically over-exposed to enable the CCD to record the faint infrared thermal surface emissions of the night side.
The image is a stack of several hundred video frames. Dark and flat field frames were also used during processing of the images.

Venus 4th May 2004 - with 1-micron pass filter reveals the planets night side due to the incredibly hot surface temperatures which radiate back in to space at near infrared wavelengths. The dark regions are believed to be a mix of dense cloud areas and cooler regions of higher topography. Telescope was a 10 inch Newtonian and GSTAR-EX video camera.
Announcement published in Australian
Sky & Telescope magazine Jan 2005

Crescent phase image from 24th December 2013 with GSTAR-EX camera and ProStar 5X tele-negative lens

Venus 24th December 2013 with GSTAR-EX camera and 5X tele-negative lens and 12-inch Newtonian telescope. It was a refreshing reminder when this planet presents such a large angular diameter just how easy it is to see visually its crescent phase even in a simple 6 X 30 mm finder scope.

Two days later, 26th Dec 2013 this image of Venus with a 1 micron filter. Very subtle post processing.
12-inch Newtonian @f/10
Camera - GSTAR-EX

Venus near the limb of the Sun during the transit of June 2004

Venus Transit 2004

The amazing transit of Venus as seen from Sydney on the 8th of June 2004. A truly spectacular event to witness both at the eyepiece and with the video camera and monitor. I was quite surprised by the complete absence of the "black drop effect" even though it was highly anticipated based on historical accounts from previous observations. The next such transit event will take place in the year 2117.

Venus on the edge of the solar limb around 3rd contact during the transit of June 2012.

Venus Transit 2012

Venus Transit 2012 from Hervey Bay QLD - Near 2nd contact with Thousand Oaks 0.9A solar filter and 60mm Vixen refractor. The seeing was very poor and the Sun low to the East hence the slightly warped disk shape of the planet.

Video image from 2001 of Venus when it had reached dichotomy.

Risky Daytime video image of Venus taken on the 27th of October 2002 only 1.25% illuminated !!!