Two beginner questions

[Jnicholes]

Hi everyone,

I have two beginner questions. One is simple, the other is a little more complicated.

I was out last night, attempting to photograph Mars and Venus with my telescope set up, the only difference being I was using an Orion Starshoot USB camera and a 3x Barlow. When I was trying to get a picture of Mars, I was noticing that I would get a lot of atmospheric interference. It was very “wavy.“ It’s very hard to describe. However, this has not happened with any other planet. I was able to get pictures of Jupiter and Saturn just fine with the same set up, but I’m always having problems with Mars.

Any idea what’s causing this issue? My setup has not changed at all. The only difference is I am using a 3X Barlow, and a Starshoot USB camera from Orion. It could be that I’m using a cheap camera, but I don’t know.

Second question. When I photographed Venus, I noticed that it was almost like a waxing or waning gibbous moon. It wasn’t a full circle. I guess I’ve never really noticed it before, because I used my phone most often as a camera.

Simple question, does Venus have phases?

Here’s a picture of what I am talking about.

If anyone can help me with these questions, I would appreciate it. If you need more data, I can get it for you.

Jared.

[Bigzmey]

That's is correct, Venus goes through phases just like Moon.

What you described with Mars is bad seeing, where the image at high powers get distorted by atmospheric turbulence. Seeing can fluctuate day to day or even minute to minute. Also different portions of sky can have different amount of air turbulence.

It has nothing to do with Mars specifically. Also, as Mars moving away from opposition it gets smaller and it is harder to resolve surface details.

[Jnicholes]

That makes sense. Thank you for pointing out that it was moving away from opposition. That explains why the image I got was so tiny.

Thank you also for pointing out the fact about Venus. I appreciate it.

Jared

[Lady Fraktor]

The height of the object above the horizon also impacts turbulence.
The lower it is the more atmosphere you are viewing through.

[Baurice]

Mars is very poorly placed for observation and photography at the moment. The only sensible time to see it is a few weeks either side of opposition. Even then, for the next few years, it will be a long way from us at oppositions.

The next good opposition is not until 2033. The 2 oppositions before it will be better than average.

On the other hand, following the phases of Venus will be great over the next few weeks. The disc size will increase as it gets close to Earth and the phase with shrink to a thin crescent. With few hours of darkness for those of us who live far north of the equator, Venus will be an evening target in twilight and be a good alternative target when only the moon would be visible or it is in the morning sky.

[Chich]

You can use a Clear Sky chart to get an idea of what conditions will be like. There are many locations already set up or you can ask for one tailored to your location if far enough away from an exisitng one

https://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/

There is a legend page which explains what is presented, 'Seeing' that Bigzmey mentioned is one of the items

https://www.cleardarksky.com/c/WnrObAZkey.html?1

An example of the one for my general location:

[John Baars]

Mars is notorious. Since the planet itself is already red, it appears to have a tendency to smear out the red chromatic error in a refractor at the planet's edge. Even the glow (scattering light in the lens itself) around it is already red. Atmospheric turbulence (bad seeing) and atmospheric dispersion make it worse. For example, it appears that Mars is "bleeding" orange/red into space. This effect is less in the best apochromats or top-reflectors. With a gray filter / variable polarization filter in ordinary instruments you can enhance the visibility of details on the surface of Mars a bit. Not the "bleeding" though.