NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2026 Nov 8, 05:26 -0800
Venus passed between the Earth and Sun (but well out of exact alignment) two weeks ago. It is now far enough from the glare of the Sun, and I saw it easily in binoculars twenty minutes ago (8:00am Eastern US time). The elongated banana-like shape is easily visible at 7x magnification, and of course the shape is aligned perpendicular to the direction to the Sun in the sky. After lining Venus up with a foreground chimney by "walking" it from my original location, I could also see it without optical aid. That was not easy, but not difficult, and I should add that my distance vision is only "good", not excellent.
Venus will be available for daytime sextant sights for the thee next 90 days or so. It is leading the Sun across the sky. You can catch it meridian passage with a little planning. Then immediately shoot the Sun. Venus gives latitude. The Sun yields longitude. Done! No plotting needed.
Frank Reed
