Thursday, January 29, 2009

See Venus During the Day: Updated With New Chart for Friday

One of the observing challenges is to see Venus during the day. It really can be very easy if you choose the right day...and today is one of those days.

The problem is Venus is a small point of light and its a big sky when you have no handy reference point to help guide your way. Every now and then, we have a helpful guide: the Moon. The Moon is much easier to see during the day and can lead you right to Venus.

So here is your map to find Venus (click to embiggen). I made it for Tucson and about 1:00pm on Friday, January 30th using the free star mapping program Stellarium.

Go outside and find the Moon. Slowly scan to the west (right) of the Moon with your eye. You have the best shot at seeing Venus when it is directly in the center of your field of view (when it lands on the fovea, in the center of your retina where your vision is sharpest). When you hit the sweet spot, Venus will jump out at you so bright and obvious you will wonder why you have never seen it before.

Go out and bag this one...even a lot of astronomers have never seen Venus during the day and it can earn you some bragging rights!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicst Blog.
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32 comments:

  1. AvengingAngelJanuary 29, 2009 at 7:30 AM

    So, if you look at the Moon, you can also see Uranus?

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  2. kkditherJanuary 29, 2009 at 7:43 AM

    I had this program on my home computer for awhile. It was very cool. Unfortunately, my music collection grew too big and won out on hard drive space.

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  3. OrbsCorbsJanuary 29, 2009 at 9:26 AM

    "Today: Scattered snow. Cloudy, with a high near 26."

    It's overcast here today, hale. :(

    Actually, it's more or less overcast all winter long.

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  4. AvengingAngelJanuary 29, 2009 at 9:44 AM

    Ok, another "Uranus" joke:

    Hale, is it true that Ben Dover discovered Uranus?

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  5. BeejayJanuary 29, 2009 at 10:03 AM

    I can't even find the frickin MOON!

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  6. OrbsCorbsJanuary 29, 2009 at 10:53 AM

    Beejay, just "Ben Dover."

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  7. MinnesotaChickJanuary 29, 2009 at 11:03 AM

    That's pretty cool! No chance of seeing it though. Overcast with flurries.

    You guys are funny.

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  8. kkditherJanuary 29, 2009 at 2:25 PM

    Kindergarten class... ha ha.

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  9. hale-boppJanuary 29, 2009 at 3:30 PM

    Sorry it's cloudy there...I just got it outside here. You an try tomorrow as well.

    I discovered the feature on blogger where you can write a blog and have it post automatically at a given time and date...I wrote that a few days ago and set it on autopilot (the forecast looked a little better then also!)

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  10. BeejayJanuary 29, 2009 at 8:40 PM

    I am so excited...I had to wait for night...but I saw VENUS...so cool....during the day...nothing, but tonight I walked out of a gathering and looked up and there it was...so clear...Thanks, Hale!

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  11. BeejayJanuary 29, 2009 at 8:41 PM

    Orbs, you are going to be punished...I am calling Mdm Zoltar right now!

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  12. BeejayJanuary 30, 2009 at 9:09 AM

    Anyone heard from Orbs today????? Oh-oh.

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  13. hale-boppJanuary 30, 2009 at 2:10 PM

    I just got back in from checking it out today. The wind picked up here in Tucson today and kicked up some dust so the sky is slightly hazy. I was still able to find it, but it was not as easy as yesterday. I got it about 1:00pm local time.

    I am contemplating trying out the Galileoscope on it in a few minutes here and seeing how it looks. I am speaking at a star party tonight, so I won't have a chance to try and photograph them :(

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  14. BeejayJanuary 30, 2009 at 2:54 PM

    'A star party?' What next...

    Has anyone heard from AA? I think Mdm Zoltar put a spell on him....making fun of the planets....just like stealing someones Tarot cards!

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  15. AvengingAngelJanuary 30, 2009 at 3:23 PM

    All I can say is that I haven't been able to sit down all day.

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  16. kkditherJanuary 30, 2009 at 3:33 PM

    CONFIRMATION and success! I gots me some bragging rights! Thanks hale. It looks slightly different here in the great white north. If you find the moon, and think of a clock dial with the center of the dial being the moon, Venus is at about 4 o'clock. And no, AA and orbs, thankfully I couldn't see Uranus.

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  17. BeejayJanuary 30, 2009 at 3:37 PM

    kk, don't go visual on that!

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  18. hale-boppJanuary 30, 2009 at 4:07 PM

    Yes, kk...it might be a slightly different angle from the Moon up there.

    And if we both took pictures of it at the same time with our digital cameras, we could compare the pictures, do a little math, and use the result to find the distance to the Moon. (I did a similar project when I lived in Racine...except we used the Moon and Jupiter at night. I took a picture in Racine at the same time he took one in California. We compared the pics, calculated how much different the positions of the Moon and Jupiter were, and got the distance to the Moon within a couple of percent...not bad for using cheap, off the shelf digital cameras).

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  19. MinnesotaChickJanuary 30, 2009 at 4:23 PM

    I just checked, I can find the moon but can't see Venus. :(

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  20. OrbsCorbsJanuary 30, 2009 at 4:32 PM

    I was out earlier and couldn't find the moon. The sun kept blinding me. I hate the winter sun - no heat, but it's so low it blinds you when driving. I'm gonna run out again.

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  21. OrbsCorbsJanuary 30, 2009 at 4:43 PM

    OK, I went out and found the moon. Still couldn't see Venus, but my eyes are terrible. I took some pictures, but I was shivering. Anyway, I'm on the spare computer. When the main one is done backing up, I'll download the pics and see if I can spot anything.

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  22. OrbsCorbsJanuary 30, 2009 at 5:22 PM

    W00t! The camera doesn't lie. DA, it's TINY. I don't think I can see that with the naked eye.

    http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn6/orbscorbs/Picture5462es.jpg

    http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn6/orbscorbs/Picture5462se.jpg

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  23. BeejayJanuary 30, 2009 at 5:28 PM

    Okay, Hale, why did my Venus look brighter in the sky? Oh....maybe cuz the wisdom party did me in....Asked me if I knew who Warren Buffet was, darn right, I do...Jimmy's uncle. What the hell???

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  24. BeejayJanuary 30, 2009 at 7:41 PM

    Hale, I e-mailed you some photos...let me know if I did see anything other than a star named after Elvis!

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  25. drewzepmeisterJanuary 30, 2009 at 7:55 PM

    I went looking for it about 1:00 pm on my break at work. Saw a faint image of the moom. Couldn't see Venus. The sun was so bright and the glare of the snow made it difficult to see anything.

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  26. MinnesotaChickJanuary 30, 2009 at 8:04 PM

    Dang..... You got some good pics!

    Can I claim " I saw it" rights through your pictures? :)

    Yes beejay.. its Jimmy's uncle.

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  27. OrbsCorbsJanuary 30, 2009 at 8:49 PM

    Yeah, drew, I got my pictures when the sun was beginning to set and I had a large building on my right (west) to block it.

    Sure, AA, you can claim it, too. I really didn't "see" it myself until I downloaded the pictures. I'm surprised they turned out as well as they did, especially the ones I zoomed in on - those usually require a steady hand. I was holding the camera overhead and couldn't even see the view-screen properly.

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  28. OrbsCorbsJanuary 30, 2009 at 8:57 PM

    Here's a better resolution of that entire photo, without anything circled. That's about half the file size: http://pictureposter.allbrand.nu/pictures/tito/Picture%205462hs.JPG

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  29. drewzepmeisterJanuary 30, 2009 at 9:13 PM

    I agree with DA,Orbs. Those were good pictures. You were at the right place at the right time.

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  30. hale-boppJanuary 31, 2009 at 3:08 AM

    Good shots, orbs! I thought about trying that, but didn't. Guess I should have as well. I think the field of view of my camera is large enough I could give it a try tomorrow (it will be sunny in Tucson of course!)

    Getting some sharp eyed people here!

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  31. hale-boppJanuary 31, 2009 at 3:12 AM

    I just opened your photos, Beejay. You definitely got Venus in there as well.

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  32. BeejayJanuary 31, 2009 at 12:00 PM

    I passed the test! Yahoo!

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