Venus in Crescent Phase
Venus in Crescent Phase I saw something sparkling in colors next to the horizon, so I got out my binoculars. It was still hard to make out, white, a bit thin and flat. But there were rainbow colors as well. Probably just sunlight reflecting off an airplane and they shining through high altitude ice for the spectral effects. My binoculars didn't clear up the mystery, so I decided to get out more lens horsepower, putting a 200mm lens on my Canon 70D (320mm effective with the "crop sensor"). It looked like the moon! But it was tiny. Hmm. Venus, as a cresent? I added a 2X teleconverter... now I had 640mm effective zoom. Yes, it was Venus! I never really thought about what it must look like when it's between the sun and the earth, but there it was. In order to catch a crisp image of Venus at this much zoom it was necessary to use the camera's self-timer and turn on "mirror lockup" to reduce vibrations. Canon EOS 70D, EF 70-200mm f/4 IS L Series le...