Brilliant Venus

[WadeH]

After having a look at the sunspots on old Sol I thought lets see if Venus is still shinning bright. This was at 3.30pm WST. After getting the house between me and the sun it only took about 30 seconds to find Venus. It still amazes me that anything other than the sun or the moon can be seen in bright daylight but the proof is in the pictures. I believe that it is about mag. -4.1 if I've got things right.

The first pic (with the clouds and Venus in center of frame) is as seen naked eye and the second through the 13mm.

Both pics handheld with a Olympus 410 compact digital, and slight cropping and bright adustment only. :D :D

[OneOfOne]

I always think that if Venus (and maybe Jupiter) had been a little brighter so that they were readily visible to the naked eye during the daytime, it would have completely changed the face of astrology! They would have needed to take into account the position of these planets during the daytime for determining your fate, possibly even creating other terms for those born when they are or are not visible (just like "cusp" is used if you are a little more like the neighbouring sign...isn't it great to invent your own science and terms, and then create other terms to cover when your science lacks a little "precision"...) etc. Imagine the mumbo jumbo they could use to spew out then.

It would have also caused no end of trouble for various civilisations accounting for what happened to the stars when the Sun rose! They would need some extra mythology to explain these other "minor" day time gods...things would be very different.

Unfortunately, my old eyes haven't been able to spot these during the day yet (without binoculars) but I keep trying...at least my friends say I am trying :D

[Mick]

Nice photo Wade, Venus is stunning atm I observed it yesterday evening it's edge was as sharp as a razor.