How much magnification (optical zoom) would a digital camera need for Venus to take up a full frame(picture)? I'm talking about taking the picture from Earth obviously.
2007-09-16 08:02:28 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The calculation is no where near as elusive as stated above.
First, Venus can be somewhat larger than quoted above. During the last conjunction (August 2007) it was 58 arc-seconds in diameter, roughly 1/60 degree.
A normal lens (non-telephoto and non-fisheye) has an approximate field of view of 45 degrees. Since the size of Venus is 1/60 degree, you need to zoom by a factor of 45/(1/60) = 2700 to fill the frame.
2007-09-18 19:42:30 · answer #1 · answered by Pretzels 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi. That varies greatly as Venus orbits the Sun, but at maximum size (thin crescent) Venus has an angular size of 29 arc-seconds. I know of no camera that can do this without being part of a telescope system.
2007-09-16 09:03:37 · answer #2 · answered by Cirric 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is impossible to answer.
For one thing, it depends on the size of the CCD chip in the camera.
But, trying to answer your question as simply as possible, most digital point and shoot cameras would need to be able to zoom between 40 to 60X to fill the frame with venus at it's largest. At 29 minutes of arc, Venus is almost the size of the Moon ( 30 minutes of arc). That should give you a rough idea.
Adolph
2007-09-17 00:36:20 · answer #3 · answered by Adolph K 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋