Is Saturn visible in daylight?

[philsail1]

I've just been on "Stellarium" and it's giving Saturn being at 143 degrees "Azimuth" and 39 degrees "Altazimuth."

I won't say this too loud, but I've got crystal clear skies up here in Connah's Quay, North Wales, and I've been out with a pair of Opticron 8x42's trying to locate the planet - but can't see it.

Does anyone know if Saturn is bright enough to see in the daylight - early evening?

Regards,

philsail1

[ashenlight]

I can make out Saturn as the Sun is setting. I look out for Arcturus, if I can see that, I keep an eye out for Saturn Maybe with a telescope you could see it properly... hmm...

Amanda

[661-pete]

I'd say, no. But it depends on how you define 'daylight'. If you mean, when the sun is above the horizon, I'd be very doubtful, except with big bins on a steady mount. Saturn reaches about magnitude -0.2 at its brightest (not this year, with the rings almost edge on). Two or three stars (Sirius, Canopus, possibly Alpha Centauri) are brighter than that, and none of them are reported as being visible in daylight.

[philsail1]

Thanks Amanda and Pete!

I was talking about "daylight" being around 6.30pm onwards. I've only managed to catch Saturn at about 8.30pm this year.

Regards,

philsail1

[Doc]

If you google this there's quite a few people that say stars down to mag 3 and most planets are viewable during the day. It's easier to view them with a go-to of course.

[ashenlight]

Kept a look out for you from about 6:30pm for you Phil, with naked eye and the binos, didn't get anything until the sky had darkened quite a bit. I think you should get a go-to

[brianb]

If you google this there's quite a few people that say stars down to mag 3 and most planets are viewable during the day. It's easier to view them with a go-to of course.

An altaz with good degree circles will do just fine, it does of course need a little more effort from you but the satisfaction is worthwhile; in any case a Goto will often goto the wrong place unless the alignment is good, that's hard during the day ... leave it aligned from a night session & you're OK, of course.

Saturn is going to be hard because of its low surface brightness, resulting from Saturn being 9 times as far from the Sun as earth therefore sunlight being not much more than 1% of the strength it has here. The glow of a daylight sky will easily overwhelm it, however good the transparency is. But once the Sun has been set for 20 minutes or so, it will be a nice sight, if you can find it!

[Brinders]

I have seen both Mercury and Venus in full daylight using my 60mm Celestron on the SLT goto mount and could quite clearly see the phases of Venus, but haven't tried to find Saturn in daylight yet. Soon as I get the chance I'll let you know.

Brinders

[Starman]

Polaris is the easiest star to see during the day, a bit less hassle if you have a fork mount. I've seen Regulus during the day when it was close to the Moon.

http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/occultations/2007-05-23_15h38m_Red_titled.jpg

I've imaged Saturn during daylight with the Sun 6.5 degrees above the horizon and Titan could be picked up too...

http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/occultations/20070522_daylight_saturn+titan.jpg

This was running up to an occultation sequence...

Disappearance:

http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/occultations/2007-05-22_Disappearance_sequence_800.jpg

Reappearance:

http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/occultations/2007-05-22_reappearance-sequence.jpg

[philsail1]

Thanks for all your replies there!

Great photos Pete! I particularly liked the sequence showing Saturn reappearing from behind the Moon.

I have a goto mount - and have been looking at Venus - and tracking it all day today. (Went on Stallarium to find it using Az/Alt settings).

I'll leave my goto on and see what happens with Saturn early this evening.

Regards,

philsail1