the moon in the morning sky

[mrgumbooks]

Hi, just a quick question about the moon. This morning we could see a very clear image of the moon even at 8.30 am. We were looking west over the Malvern Hills towards Herefordshire. I know it's probably just a basic question, but just wondered how come you can see it when it's full daylight? Joseph

[baggywrinkle]

Lots of Sun reflecting off a large surface area. Quite often a good time to look at the Monn as it does not blind you or make you use filters.

[Cornelius Varley]

The moon is quite often visible during daylight, more so when it is fuller and brighter.

[rockystar]

you could also see Jupiter as it was coming light. The moon is very bright ( about mag -12 when full, it's about 10 times less bright at half - not sure how that translates to magnitude), so will punch through the glare of a low sun. When the sun gets higher and brighter (-26 may at max), you won't able see it. So even though it felt like full daylight, it probably wasn't at full brightness.

[laudropb]

Quite a common site. There are some nice images in the lunar imaging forum.

[Neptune38]

As i was driving into work at 5.15am this morning, there was a very bright star, (which i have seen on many a morning) or a planet just above and to the right of the moon, i have often wondered if it either Venus or Jupiter, can anyone shed any light on this please?

[Mark at Beaufort]

14 minutes ago, Neptune38 said:

As i was driving into work at 5.15am this morning, there was a very bright star, (which i have seen on many a morning) or a planet just above and to the right of the moon, i have often wondered if it either Venus or Jupiter, can anyone shed any light on this please?

It was Jupiter. If you following the line of the ecliptic from Jupiter to the South/East horizon you would have seen Mars, then Saturn, then Venus  and really low is Mercury.

[Neptune38]

1 minute ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

It was Jupiter. If you following the line of the ecliptic from Jupiter to the South/East horizon you would have seen Mars, then Saturn, then Venus  and really low is Mercury.

Thanks for that , i am happy to know , that i can now spot Jupiter with the naked eye, every time i see it, i wonder to myself if it's a planet, as it does look too big for a star 

[Mark at Beaufort]

Try and download www.stellarium.org it is a planetarium free software for your computer. It will show you the sky for your location. This includes Constellations, Deep Sky Objects, Planets and if you undertake further downloads it will also show you current comet positions.

[Neptune38]

11 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Try and download www.stellarium.org it is a planetarium free software for your computer. It will show you the sky for your location. This includes Constellations, Deep Sky Objects, Planets and if you undertake further downloads it will also show you current comet positions.

I already have Stellarium, thanks though 

[dick_dangerous]

2 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

It was Jupiter. If you following the line of the ecliptic from Jupiter to the South/East horizon you would have seen Mars, then Saturn, then Venus  and really low is Mercury.

I had a look for the first time this morning and spotted Jupiter, Mars and Saturn but not Venus or Mercury - all I could see were Boeing 747s stacking up over London for Heathrow! I'll try again when I'm somewhere darker over the next few weeks!

Paul