by Anthony Barreiro » Thu Feb 27, 2014 6:17 pm
Chris Peterson wrote:MargaritaMc wrote:I am so surprised to discover that this was visible in the afternoon sky, when the sun - obviously - was fully up.
Venus is an easy naked eye object at any time of the day. The tricky bit is finding it, and focusing on it. For people who don't practice a lot (I always look for Venus when I'm outside in the day), the easiest way to see it is when it's within a few degrees of the Moon, which allows the Moon to serve as both a pointer and a focusing aid.
I've seen Venus, Jupiter, and Sirius with my unaided eyes in the middle of the day. With binoculars, I can add Saturn and Mars to that list. With a telescope, dozens of stars.
I've been able to see Venus without optical aid during daylight, although I try to stand in the shade of a building. It helps to have a period of very clear weather, so I can find landmarks that point to about where she is in the sky at a given time, and focus my search on that area again the next day. I've seen Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn through binoculars, and first magnitude stars through a telescope.
Up in the mountains you have the advantage of having less atmosphere to look through than those of us who live closer to sea level. But I don't need a pressure cooker to make a cup of tea.
By the way, this is a lovely image!
[quote="Chris Peterson"][quote="MargaritaMc"]I am [b]so [/b]surprised to discover that this was visible in the afternoon sky, when the sun - obviously - was fully up.[/quote]
Venus is an easy naked eye object at any time of the day. The tricky bit is finding it, and focusing on it. For people who don't practice a lot (I always look for Venus when I'm outside in the day), the easiest way to see it is when it's within a few degrees of the Moon, which allows the Moon to serve as both a pointer and a focusing aid.
I've seen Venus, Jupiter, and Sirius with my unaided eyes in the middle of the day. With binoculars, I can add Saturn and Mars to that list. With a telescope, dozens of stars.[/quote]
I've been able to see Venus without optical aid during daylight, although I try to stand in the shade of a building. It helps to have a period of very clear weather, so I can find landmarks that point to about where she is in the sky at a given time, and focus my search on that area again the next day. I've seen Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn through binoculars, and first magnitude stars through a telescope.
Up in the mountains you have the advantage of having less atmosphere to look through than those of us who live closer to sea level. But I don't need a pressure cooker to make a cup of tea. :ssmile:
By the way, this is a lovely image!