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Oh that's cool! Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea where to look though.
You got it: that's the challenge of seeing Venus in the daytime without a telescope, binoculars, tripods, etc. The Mars method worked for me, the day after OP, but I had to get out the binoculars first to (then immediately) find Venus.
Venus these days follows the sun across the sky, about 3 hours later and maybe 15 degrees farther north. So on Wednesday at 3:00 pm, it will be to your south and high in the sky. Same place in the sky that Procyon was at 8:00 pm Tuesday night, within 1/2 degree. Go out tonight, find Procyon, find where to stand so it lines up with a treetop or a building corner. Then return 19 hours later, if the sky is clear, to see Venus there.
Seeing Venus at noon on Wednesday is a bit harder, 'cause Sun is higher & Venus lower. Mark the spot of Mars at 10:30 pm Tuesday, and look about 2.5 degrees lower.
The relative times and positions change from day to day, of course, because of what planets do. Today's prediction is based on a marvelous free planetarium program called Stellarium.
Problem is, I won't be able to see it until after 2:50PM because of school :/
Registered Member #2099
Joined: Wed Apr 29 2009, 12:22AM
Location: Los Altos, California
Posts: 1716
HighVoltageChick wrote ... Problem is, I won't be able to see it until after 2:50PM because of school :/
@QK: So how 'bout right after you get home? Are you expecting clear weather? Want details about some bright star to find at night, as a sky location reference for Venus the next afternoon or two? Post or PM your at-home time and location (within 100 miles). I'll update this post rather than have Mr. Gobber appear too many times in the thread.
[edit] OK, here we go for Venus at 3:30 pm on Thursday afternoon, March 1, in your Florida city. Venus will be almost due south (188 degrees) and very high (72 degrees, a strain on the neck if you are standing up). Marking that spot, the previous night (Weds. Feb. 29), should be Betelgeuse at 7:56 pm, 3.7 degrees lower than Venus will be. Regulus at 12:06 am, 0.8 degrees higher than Venus. Mars at 1:08 am, 1.2 degrees lower than Venus. Changes for other locations will be small. Venus will be about 1/2 degree higher and 0.01 magnitude brighter each succeeding day. Please let us know how you fare.
@Steve: You made a good point. Daytime visibility has got to depend on one's location and time of day, as well as the Venus and Sun angles. A respectable challenge is to "see Venus at noon" or even "see Venus at noon in Scotland". Then it gets progressively easier as the Sun moves lower and Venus higher. Venus culminates around 3 pm, with a declination favorable for Northern hemisphere viewers. After that, I think its naked-eye visibility continues to improve until sunset.
@mark: I've read about seeing one's shadow cast by Venus at night, but not tried it. Anybody expecting to be in a dark-sky location after the upcoming full moon? One could simulate the brightness magnitude of Venus, even indoors, with a standard flashlight bulb or LED at some distance.
Registered Member #2099
Joined: Wed Apr 29 2009, 12:22AM
Location: Los Altos, California
Posts: 1716
Some new observations and methods to report.
A couple of successes finding Venus without binocs, when the planet was at its highest (straight South, of course, and at 3:04 pm -- would have been 2:56 pm on the standard meridian for this time zone). Oriented by a north-south row of lamp posts, I stood pretty close to one and looked above it. 66 degree altitude, for my latitude of 37 degrees.
Finding Venus with binocs has been a no-brainer, given an azimuth reference (such as a street, or a good compass). Scan the sky upward until your neck hurts. If you miss, repeat a few degrees to the left or right. Be sure the focus is at infinity.
With binoculars I thought I saw Jupiter, 8 degrees to left of Venus (about 1/2 hour behind it). Have been unable to repeat that, except when it was less than 10 minutes before sunset. Am thinking that in a cloudless sky, planet visibility declines after the planet passes the meridian. The Sun is also lower, but not enough to compensate for more atmosphere between viewer and planet, as Steve said. THat scatters more sunlight (makes the sky brighter), as well as attenuating the planet's brightness a bit.
Perhaps a polarizing camera filter, maybe even polarized sunglasses, would help by darkening the polarized sky light. At any rate, they can let you see the strain pattern in the tempered-glass rear windows of cars in sunlight.
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Joined: Wed Apr 29 2009, 12:22AM
Location: Los Altos, California
Posts: 1716
Venus is getting well away from the Sun in morning sky these days. Today is special, because the crescent Moon passes close (apparently) to Venus. The moon is a handy marker and visual focus reference. Should make it easy to find Venus, esp. with binoculars. They're about 45 degrees (3 hours) ahead of the Sun.
This image is from Stellarium, figued for Florida about 1 hour from now as Moon and Venus culminate. Look southward and almost straight up -- lying down is easier on one's neck. Venus brightness is greatly exaggerated.
Yeah, I saw venus in the morning. I was thinking how it looked really nice and close to the moon today. Hehe, and I live in FL. Looked slightly different for me this morning though.
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Astronomy: observing Venus at mid-day without a telescope
