Moon, Jupiter & Venus and that's before 3 in the afternoon.

[russ.will]

I was just wondering if anybody else has tried daytime astronomy?

I was out with the Dob on the patio in the shade of the pergola, to do a few adjustments, so I thought I'd give it a bash. I've seen other people do it, and although it's hard to pick anything out by eye, it's easy if you get the Alt/Az coordinates off Sky Safari, or some such. Once in the right area, objects are easy to pick up in the optical finder and then it's just like doing at night, but your EP caps are easier to find!

Obviously contrast is low, and everything is pretty much in shades of blue, but I was really surprised at how well defined the banding of Jupiter was defined. I couldn't see the moons though. Venus looked much the same as normal ie, just a crescent.

If the high level cloud had stayed away, I'm pretty sure Saturn would have been possible too.

Obviously, I wasn't about to attempt Mercury or anything remotely in the direction of the sun, before anybody mentions it.

Russell

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD using chubby fingers. Sorry.

[paul schofield]

Very interesting, puts a different slant on things. The only planet I have managed in daylight was Jupiter and it was not as good as the view you had, just looked like a slightly out of focus star to me. I would love to see Venus during daylight, don't know but would the crescent be a bit better defined and not as bright ??? I have never tried Venus as I have a phobia of sunlight entering my scope as with Mercury. Clear skies

[Magic]

From my experience venus still looked better at night, in the day you can still clearly see the crescent though I would love to see what Saturn looks like in the day!

[russ.will]

....don't know but would the crescent be a bit better defined and not as bright ???

I think would be exactly as bright, but not as well defined as the brightness of the sky would squash out all contrast.

It also leads me to wondering what effect a polarising filter would have, as that helps reduce of lot of glare from the sky, whilst enhancing colours. Mind you, I don't know that I'm going to make a habit of daytime planet hunting. But it does mean you can show kids something interesting as at this time of year, darkness is well after their bed times.

Russell