Venus During The Day

Just wondering if anyone has managed to see Venus during daylight hours as per the article in yesterdays Irish Examiner and if so is it visible to the naked eye or are binos are something needed

Hi,
Ive seen Venus in daytime many times before although not in this apparition.
Search with binoculars in its general area and you'll soon find it, just beware of the sun while scanning.

Aye, currently, it is far enough from the Sun for safe scanning. A tip for you if you try it: put yourself in the shadow of a building to effectively block out the Sun, and let the small area of sky you intend to scan lie just that little bit away from the building's silhouette. Let something like Stellarium help you locate it.

Best of luck Joanne, and let us know how you get on!
Seanie.

Hi Joanne.
Once you know where and when to look you should spot it naked eye easily.
As the lads say and no harm stressing again - if you have binos in
your hand and the sun is up be VERY careful.

My Dad and I saw it yesterday while in Tralee at 4pm.
It got progressively brighter as it got darker and by the time we got back to Limerick it was blazing away near the horizon.
I just about managed to spot Jupiter before it set also.

As far as I am aware your eyes only focus out to a certain distance
when you look up first
(think of a cameras auto focus going from macro to infinity)
you may even be looking directly at it but you can't see it instantly.
You generally find that once you spot it you will be able to spot it
quicker again if you look away,
thats a combination of knowing exactly where to look this time and
your eyes anticipating it.

I'm open to someone that knows more about the human eye to correct me or give a different explanation..

Me too, even in Binoculars, you can see the sunlit phase easily if you hold them steady.
Frank, I believe that your focus point is corect, it's hard even to see Venus when that bright, when you finally spot, your eyes will 'home' in on it, the large clear blue sky does'nt do any favours for focus.

Keith..

If using a scope or binos in the day I always arrange it so the sun is behind something with respect to the instrument. I that is to the west of me then the sun can't come into view either. It ensures safty from direct viewing the sun, just need to beware of reflections then.
I found Venus easily on 1st Dec, but using the very close moon for reference was cheating.


Steve