NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Greg Rudzinski
Date: 2015 Nov 16, 14:55 -0800
Some CN navigators may be having trouble picking up Venus during the day. Right now is a good time to be trying for a daytime Venus observation since elongation is near the maximum. A few pointers. Precalculate altitude and azimuth then use a hand bearing compass to orient the sextant. Check scope focus. Rather than focusing on the horizon it is better to focus on a sunspot to get the needed infinite focus. If all is failing then break out the 7x50mm binoculars. If Venus can't be seen with these then there is no chance with the sextant scope.
As an experiment I watched Venus with a U.S. Navy Mk 3 M. Low sextant w/4x40mm scope and a U.S. Navy Mk 3 Bendix bubble octant w/ x2 scope. Venus was visible with both down to 9° then abruptly faded away into the horizon haze.
Greg Rudzinski
