Occultation of Venus, 2007 June 18

Mark Kilner

I am pleased to report that at least some parts of the UK were not clouded out, and from Broadstairs, Kent, I managed to obtain a number of images of the emersion phase of the occultation (the immersion was obscured by cloud). The six images below (from a total of 89) were taken with a Canon 350D DSLR attached to a Vixen SP-102 refractor (102-mm aperture; 1,000-mm focus). The first image in the sequence was taken at approximately 15:23:57 UT. The exposure time was 1/750s (except the lower middle frame, which was 1/1,000s) at ISO 200. Although I have taken many photographs of the Moon before, this is the first time that I have attempted anything like this in daylight, so the choice of exposure time was largely guesswork. The images are a good approximation to the view through the eyepiece. The emersion was also clearly visible with the naked eye – the first time that I have managed to see Venus in broad daylight. I may later attempt a composite stack – assuming I can find a feature that Registax will lock onto.