Re: Urban Fables: Stellar by Sunlight

[Michael Porter <mbt@SYMPATICO.CA>]

On 3/22/02 8:25 PM, Stephen Murray wrote:

> I wasn't aware that seeing planets during the day was considered to
> be an urban myth.  I've seen Venus during the daytime.

Same here. There was a nice mid-afternoon occultation of Venus by the Moon
last summer in July (on the 17th, if memory serves) that was observed by
many in North America. I didn't find the occultation as interesting as just
being able to see Venus in the middle of the day -- the two objects were so
close that if you could find the Moon you could see Venus, as well. You
still needed pretty sharp eyes... I've seen Jupiter _right_ after sunset,
but I'm still a little skeptical about people being able to see Sirius in
the daytime. It's ten times fainter than Venus at its best.

Mike
--
Michael Porter
Colonel By Secondary School
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada