Venus visible in the daytime

[Zarathustra]

Right now (3:15 PM EST)! If you have clear skies, you can see it close to the moon, in broad daylight. The moon is a thin crescent very high in the sky, slightly southward at Kentucky latitudes. Let your eyes adjust to the light, hide the sun behind a tree or building, and look up at the moon for a good 30 seconds to a minute in order to adjust to the brightness. Then follow a line from the sun through the moon to about 4-5 moon widths beyond, and there will be a tiny point of light. That's Venus. It's pretty eerie seeing a planet in the blue sky.

After sunset, the show should be even more impressive, and easier to see. A fairly tight conjunction between Venus/Moon/Jupiter is in store for this evening. And when you're looking at this conjunction in the west, Mars will be about the same height in the east, behind you. A bright orange-red dot.

[Zarathustra]

Actually, I just looked again, and the moon/sun/Venus aren't really in a line. That should give you the general direction, however. Venus will appear farther from the sun than the moon does.

[MsMary]

Too bright here to see it right now. I'll check later.

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

It was pretty cool last night, Venus was high over the crescent moon, and Jupiter was just to the side of the moon.

[jelerak]

If I am not mistaken, you can also see Jupiter as well, right in line of sight with the moon and Venus.

A little less bright than Venus, but still very visible.

[Zarathustra]

About 30 minutes past sunset, this is a spectacular sight! If you have a clear sky, I highly recommend a quick look. Jupiter isn't as close to Moon and Venus as I had implied earlier, but it's still right up there with the two of them, lower in the sky.

Jelerak, Jupiter was also visible in the day, but I didn't see it. Sky and Telescope said that you would have needed binoculars to spot it.

If you have a telescope, Venus looks like a near-half crescent moon.

[Cameraman Jenn]

They are pretty darn bright in the San Francisco night sky right now. Very lovely!

[Prebe]

Had my peeks at the celestial vagabonds myself while walking the dog. It's a sight indeed. I have no decent binoculars, but I seem to recall that seeing a few of the Jovian moons is possible with binoculars of reasonable quality.

[Zarathustra]

Prebe, I've got some decent 10X50 binoculars, which capture a good amount of light. Yes, you can clearly see 4 moons of Jupiter with a decent set of binoculars. If you watch them week-by-week, you can see them changing position. They look like their own little solar system, all lined up neatly along their orbits.

My telescope lets me see a couple stripes of Jupiter's clouds, and a nice fat disc.

[Prebe]

My telescope lets me see a couple stripes of Jupiter's clouds, and a nice fat disc.

Cool. I had a cheepo reflector telscope once. I could never get it to show me anything but a a smear. I probably should have been less stingy with my investment.

[aliantha]

Stood outside for a bit before I went to the grocery store and watched the display. Very cool.

[Zarathustra]

My telescope lets me see a couple stripes of Jupiter's clouds, and a nice fat disc.

Cool. I had a cheepo reflector telscope once. I could never get it to show me anything but a a smear. I probably should have been less stingy with my investment.

Mine is homemade (not by me, a gift). If you buy a quality lens, you can make a nice telescope dirt cheap. I think it's PVP pipe, painted blue.

[Avatar]

Hahaha, that's pretty cool.

--A