Saturday, October 17, 2026
Seeing Crescent Venus in Binoculars
 |  |
| Venus in the twilight on Friday, October 16 as seen from Largs Pier at 20:08 ACST. Samsung S24, 5x Zoom, ISO 2000 1/33 sec exposure | Western sky on the evening of Saturday, October 17 as seen from Adelaide at 20:08 ACST (30 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Venus is just above the horizon and below Mercury. Venus is a clear thin "Crescent Moon" shape and is increasing in size. The shape is readily in 10x50 binoculars (although the brightness may make it hard to see due to internal lens reflections). |
The planets seen thorough binoculars are generally disappointing, Jupiter is a clear oblate spheroid, although featureless, but you can see the bright sparks of its satellites shuttling around. Saturn is a featureless ellipse, where you cant distinguish the rings from the planets body (but is is clearly an elliptical shape much boarder than Jupiter).
But for the next few days you can easily see crescent Venus in 10x50 binoculars (and even to an extent in smaller binoculars).
The wire thin crescent shape is readily seen in 10x50 binoculars, although the brightness may make it hard to see due to internal lens reflections. Best seen close to twilight and with a binocular stand or something to rest your arms on so the binoculars don't shake.
You only have about 4 more days until Venus disappears into the twilight, but then by the 30th is is high enough above the eastern twilight horizon for the thin crescent to be seen in binoculars.
So why not grab you binoculars and go have a look tonight?
Labels: binoculars, Venus
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
