Spotting Venus during daylight, naked eye observation

[WhiteStarLine]

Just spotted Venus at 3:20 pm from Canberra, with the sun shining brightly!

Forgive the excitement, as I've always wanted to spot Sirius or Venus during broad daylight, without any aids. I've had a few goes, mapping out true north at local noon and trying to make out Venus in the sun's glare, but it was impossible. I just assumed that when people said "you have to know exactly where to look" it was really code for "I'm claiming I saw it and you can't prove me wrong . . . "

Last night I was reading Dava Sobel's "The Planets" where she wrote that Napoleon saw it at noon while giving a speech. That made me determined to see it for myself!

Went out at midday and it was clouded over. Checked PocketStars PC at 3:00 and it said 34 degrees azimuth, 77 elevation from memory. Went out, got my line to true north and stood in the shade trying to guess the azimuth / elevation I needed. I spotted dozens of floating white dandelion seeds high up. After three minutes or so I was sure one of the seeds wasn't moving, so I looked away and looked back. Sure enough, an unmistakeable very white, very small, spherical object. I had to cup my hands eyes over my eyes to be sure as the sun was very glaring.

I walked away and decided to have one more confirmatory look. To my annoyance, it was just as hard to pick up and also took 2 or 3 minutes to find. But it was there, in the same spot.

If you're interested, now is a good time to see it as its apparent angular separation from the sun makes spotting it a lot easier.

Now for Sirius!

Cheers,

Bill
Canberra, Australia

[Blue Skies]

I've seen Venus many times during the day. When I've had more time up my sleeve I've tried to see it high above, but have had better success mid morning and mid afternoon.

However the most memorable time was around midday! I was sailing competitively at the time and we, a crew of five, were drifting about on the Swan River waiting for some wind. I remember looking up and seeing Venus not far from the top of the mast. I got the others to look up and they all saw it! And they weren't experienced observers. Having the masthead nearby helped to act as a focus point, as it is hard to focus on a uniformly blue sky with no reference point.

Sirius - now there's a challenge! I've never tried. I've seen Jupiter during the day with help form the moon and that was hard but Sirius would be a nice one to bag.

[mozzie]

yes i to have seen jupiter with the aid of the moon have tried to look for venus but no luck you have wet my appitite i will find some cordinates and have a look then maybe sirius