Daytime planetary photography

I just got my 400mm f/5.6 USM telephoto lens and gen III 2x teleconverter. I managed to get some decent shots of the moon and Jupiter last night, but I need work haha.

I really want to get Mars and Saturn, but they're up during the day right now. Any one ever try to catch them during the day? And if yes, how'd you do it?

Thanks!

Just wait till you can see them at night.

VaiFanatic wrote in post #14965069
I just got my 400mm f/5.6 USM telephoto lens and gen III 2x teleconverter. I managed to get some decent shots of the moon and Jupiter last night, but I need work haha.

I really want to get Mars and Saturn, but they're up during the day right now. Any one ever try to catch them during the day? And if yes, how'd you do it?

Thanks!

Its not possible unfortunately. You can try it though, set your camera to manual, Iso around 800, shutter speed @ 3 seconds and point it to where you think mars should be. You will get a white blown out image. There is simply too much light from the sun.

neimad19 wrote in post #15010264
Its not possible unfortunately. You can try it though, set your camera to manual, Iso around 800, shutter speed @ 3 seconds and point it to where you think mars should be. You will get a white blown out image. There is simply too much light from the sun.

It should be possible with Venus though. I have seen it in the daytime through a pair of binoculars. I'd seen it very close to the Moon in the early morning, so I had a good idea as to where to look at noon.

Edit: Just had a check on Starry Night and it looks as if this may be possible on 12 Oct and 11 Nov this year.

Well there you go! Who'd a thought you could see anything but the moon or sun during the day. Thanks for chipping in hollis.

I've seen both Saturn and Jupiter through my telescope in broad daylight, middle of the day. As long as you know where it is. I just let my telescope continue tracking through the night and into the next day.

But, whatever you do, make sure the sun is FAR away when setting up! You don't want to accidentally focus on the sun.

You can see both Venus and Jupiter, as well as several of the brighter stars, with the naked eye in broad daylight if you know EXACTLY where to look. The problem isn't that they are dim but that your eye can't focus without something to refer to. By that I mean that you can be looking right at Jupiter at noon but, with nothing around it, your eye won't automatically focus to infinity and it'll be to out of focus to see.

Years ago someone showed me a cool trick where he centered Vega in his 4 inch refractor in the middle of the afternoon and, of course, you could see it great through the eyepiece. Then he showed me that you could sight up the side of the telescope tube with the naked eye and, since you knew it was right there, you could focus on it and see it plainly in broad daylight! But if I stepped away from the scope I couldn't find it at all.

Another chance is when they are very close to the Moon, and here's a shot of Venus I took at 2:00 in the afternoon. I don't remember the lens but I think is was the 105 mm L. I'm sure it wasn't a telescope. I blew Venus up to 100% crop for the inset and you can see the phase.

Mars and Saturn would probably be a real challenge and I don't think you'd get much detail even through a scope. They are just too dim. But it might be worth trying. I've shot the moon in the middle of the day and, with some processing, it looks pretty much like a night shot.

Anyway, interesting topic.