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Partial success today in trying to track Mag 3.0 Omicron Canis Majoris into the daylight sky with my Tax FC-100D. Conditions were good with no haze and for once, I had my tracking spot on, so it was not a case of “Where’s Wally”.
Sunrise here was approximately at 6.45 and I last saw the star at 7.10ish. At that stage I was pleased at how visible the star was and thought this is going to be easy. However, coming back 5 mins later, I could not find it despite persisting. My last act was to slew the tracking from side to side in the hope of seeing the star in motion.
So where to from here? I will aim to track the double Gamma Leonis into the daylight. The primary is magnitude 2.2, which should be feasible since I have already successfully tracked a mag 2.6 star into the daylight. The secondary is mag 3.5, which although vastly more challenging, I will have the primary star as a marker beside it. However, I wonder if I will be able to resolve the double easily in the daylight as the seeing conditions may be worse. I will have to wait a few months for Leo to be suitably positioned in the morning sky.
Meanwhile, I will just go back to following Mars into the daylight. The local seeing here before dawn is often at its best.
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