Daytime Astronomy: Can You See Stars During the Day?
You don’t have to stay up all night to enjoy the beauty of the sky. The Moon and the Sun are the most familiar daytime targets, but with a little guidance, you can discover much more. This guide to daytime astronomy explains what to look for, which equipment you need, and how to observe daytime objects safely. Open Sky Tonight to check the Moon’s phase and position for your location, then explore the other sights the daytime sky has to offer.
Contents
- What Is Daytime?
- Daytime Sky Targets at a Glance
- Daytime Astronomy Tools: Can You Use a Telescope During the Day?
- What Can You See in the Sky During the Day: Beginner Targets
- What Can You See in the Sky During the Day: Advanced Targets
- Daytime Astronomy: Key Facts
What Is Daytime?
Daytime lasts from the moment when the upper edge of the Sun rises just above the local horizon until it fully sinks below the local horizon. During that period, the Sun provides natural light. The daytime is longer in summer and shorter in winter.
Daytime Sky Targets at a Glance
An object’s visibility depends on sky conditions, its position, and your equipment.
- Sun: an easy target, but never view directly without a suitable solar filter. Even looking with the naked eye is dangerous, and through an unfiltered telescope or binoculars, concentrated sunlight can burn the retina and cause permanent blindness.
- Moon: an easy target, often visible without optics. Look in the afternoon when it’s waxing or in the morning when it’s waning.
- Venus: can be seen with the naked eye, but you need a clear sky and to know exactly where to look.
- Other bright planets (Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn): challenging targets. Observing them generally requires a clear sky, a small telescope, and sufficient separation from the Sun.
- Brightest stars (e.g. Sirius): challenging targets. Selected stars can be detected with suitable optical equipment; twilight offers easier viewing.
- Satellites: difficult targets. Daytime observations require specialist techniques; ISS sightings are best planned around dawn or dusk.
- Atmospheric effects: weather-dependent rare targets. Rainbows, halos, and sundogs are visible without optics when conditions are right, but they are hard to predict.
- Meteors: very difficult or rare targets; most are washed out by sunlight. Twilight offers better chances, while exceptionally bright fireballs can appear in full daylight.
Daytime Astronomy Tools: Can You Use a Telescope During the Day?
Yes, you can use a telescope during the day. For example, it reveals lunar craters and Venus’s changing phases, making these objects more rewarding to observe. Under suitable conditions, you can also see the Moon and Venus without optics.
You’ll need special solar filters for observing the Sun. For viewing without optics, use solar viewing glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 standard. For detailed observations, use a telescope with a suitable solar filter securely fitted over the front of the optics. Solar viewing glasses do not replace a telescope filter.
Solar filters are not needed for other celestial objects. A small telescope can be useful, but you need to know exactly where to look. Open Sky Tonight, search for your target, and select your observing time to check its position for your location. For daytime observing with unfiltered optics, choose a position where a building or another solid barrier blocks the Sun from your entire setup throughout the session. If you cannot ensure this, wait until the Sun has set.
What Can You See in the Sky During the Day: Beginner Targets
Although sunlight washes out most sky objects, you can still see the Moon, some of the brightest planets, and the Sun itself. Here we’ve listed the best objects for daytime observations.
Moon during the day
This may surprise you, but the Moon, a traditional night symbol, is often visible in daylight. Against a bright sky, its disk looks pale, but the darker patches known as lunar maria can still be recognizable. You can see the daytime Moon with the naked eye, but binoculars or a telescope reveal more of its terrain.
When can you see the Moon during the day?
A waxing Moon can be seen in the afternoon and is best seen in the evenings around the First Quarter phase. A waning Moon is best seen in the morning, particularly during the Last Quarter phase. Near the Full Moon, the Moon is mainly visible at night. During the New Moon, its illuminated side faces away from Earth, and it is too close to the Sun in the sky for ordinary visual observing.
Practice daytime astronomy: compare the Moon by day and after sunset
Try observing the same lunar feature twice on one day: first in daylight, then after sunset. The exercise helps to notice how the bright sky affects the contrast of lunar details.
Choose a day around First Quarter Moon. Open the Sky Tonight app, go to the lunar calendar section, and check the local times when the Moon is above the horizon and reasonably high during both sessions.
Start in the afternoon. Find the dark lunar maria with your eyes, then use binoculars or a telescope to explore craters near the terminator, the boundary between the Moon’s illuminated and dark sides.
Make a quick sketch or take a photograph. After sunset, try to find the same lunar features with the same instrument and magnification. Compare the details you can recognize. Record any weather changes (haze, cloud): these can affect the result alongside the changing sky brightness.
For a first attempt, observe when the lunar disk is at least half illuminated and well separated from the Sun in the sky. Keep the Sun blocked from your entire observing setup whenever you use unfiltered optics in daylight.
Why can you see the Moon during the day?
First, the Moon reflects enough sunlight to stand out against the bright daytime sky when it is well placed. Second, the Moon, Sun, and Earth constantly move, changing their relative positions over time. Near Full Moon, the Moon rises around sunset and sets around sunrise, so it is mainly a nighttime sight. As the Moon continues to move, it rises later each day and spends more and more time in the sky after sunrise. Around the New Moon phase, the Moon is in the sky all day, but we don’t see it because its illuminated side faces away from Earth.
Planets during the day
Venus is the main planetary target for daytime observing. In a clear sky, it can appear as a tiny white point to the naked eye. Depending on its position relative to Earth and the Sun, Venus can appear as an evening object, setting after sunset, or a morning object, rising before sunrise. It is often easier to locate around greatest elongation, when it appears farthest from the Sun in our sky. During solar conjunctions, it is lost in the Sun’s glare.
Other bright planets — Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, and Mercury — are more challenging daytime targets. Observing them generally requires a telescope, especially clear skies, and precise knowledge of their positions. Sweeping a telescope around the sky near the Sun in hopes of spotting a planet is inefficient and dangerous for both your eyes and equipment. Instead, check the planet’s position for your location in Sky Tonight. Before aiming, make sure a building or another solid barrier blocks the Sun from your entire observing setup and will continue to do so throughout the session.
At times, you can use the Moon as a guide to help you find planets. Check out our dedicated article to find out when the Moon is near planets.
Practice daytime astronomy: explore the phases of Venus
Through a telescope, Venus can appear as a crescent, a roughly half-lit disk, or a gibbous shape, depending on its position in its orbit. Observing Venus phases is much more fun than simply spotting it with the naked eye as a bright dot. A small telescope — for example, a 60 mm refractor on a stable mount — can reveal Venus’s phases. Do not rely on ordinary handheld binoculars to resolve it.
Choose a date when Venus is well separated from the Sun and reasonably high above the horizon. The period around greatest elongation, when Venus appears farthest from the Sun in our sky, is a good starting point. Around this time, its disk looks approximately half illuminated.
Observe from a position where a building or another solid barrier completely blocks the Sun from your observing setup while leaving Venus in view. Make sure the Sun will remain blocked throughout the session as it moves across the sky. If you cannot ensure this, wait until the Sun has set.
Use Sky Tonight to check Venus’s exact position in the sky for your location before aiming your telescope. Start with low magnification, center Venus, and focus on the edge of its disk. Increase magnification only as long as the outline remains sharp.
Expect to see a small white or pale-yellow disk. The colorful cloud patterns seen in processed spacecraft images won’t be visible through an ordinary telescope, so focus on exploring the planet’s shape and how much of its disk is illuminated.
Venus can be seen as a thin crescent as it approaches inferior conjunction, but it also appears closer to the Sun in the sky. Observing it under these conditions should be left to experienced observers.
Solar viewing
The Sun is the most obvious thing to observe during the day. However, looking at it directly is dangerous, so you must take proper precautions.
How to safely look at the Sun?
For direct viewing without optics, use special eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer that meets the ISO 12312-2 standard. Inspect the viewer before use and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Ordinary sunglasses are not suitable.
Eclipse glasses worn over your eyes do not make unfiltered binoculars or a telescope safe. For a conventional telescope, binoculars, or a camera, use a solar filter specifically intended for that instrument and purpose. For visual observing, it must be rated as safe for visual use, not just photography, and securely fitted over the front opening. Remove or securely cover an unfiltered optical finder.
A simple alternative that uses no optical instrument is pinhole projection. This method is especially useful during a partial solar eclipse and requires no special equipment. You can do this using your hands:
- Make a small gap between your thumb and forefinger.
- With your back to the Sun, look at your hand’s shadow on the ground.
- You’ll see the projection of the partly eclipsed Sun on the ground.
- Look at the projected image, never through the opening at the Sun.
If you're observing the eclipse near trees, you can also look at the shadows of leaves on the ground. During the eclipse, small gaps between leaves act as pinhole projectors and create images of the crescent Sun on the ground, letting you observe the eclipse safely.
Projection through a telescope is a different technique. It can damage unsuitable equipment and expose someone to concentrated sunlight. It requires an experienced observer, suitable equipment, and continuous supervision. Beginners should choose a correctly filtered instrument or simple pinhole projection instead.
Practice daytime astronomy: track solar rotation using sunspots
A sequence of observations can reveal the Sun’s rotation, so you can indirectly “observe” the motion of our own star! With safely filtered equipment, follow the same sunspot group over several days and record how its position changes across the solar disk.
Before every session, inspect and secure the front-mounted solar filter and remove or cover the unfiltered finder. Never continue if a filter is damaged, loose, or missing. Follow the instrument and filter manufacturers’ solar-observing instructions.
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On the first day, choose a recognizable sunspot group. If there are no suitable spots, try again on another day. Sketch the full solar disk and mark the group’s position, or photograph the full disk through the correctly filtered setup. Record the date and time.
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Repeat at approximately the same time on subsequent days. Find the same group and explore it: sunspots can grow, change shape, split, or disappear. Compare images at the same disk size and orientation. Don’t mistake a rotated or flipped frame for motion on the Sun.
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Follow the group’s progress across the visible disk. The gradual displacement is the result to look for; the group does not need to survive for an entire rotation.
Seen from Earth, the Sun takes about 27 days to make one full turn. A sunspot group crosses only the half of the Sun facing us, so its journey across the visible disk takes less time. The Sun also rotates faster near its equator than near its poles, so tracking one group gives only an approximate rotation period for that part of the Sun.
Solar eclipse viewing
Solar eclipses are some of the most exciting daytime astronomical events, but they're also rare. During annular eclipses, you’ll see the beautiful “ring of fire” around the Moon; during total eclipses, the solar corona will appear. During totality, the brightest stars and planets briefly become visible to the naked eye. However, you may not want to waste your time looking at them in detail instead of watching the eclipsed Sun.
Don’t remove telescope filters even during the total solar eclipse! For viewing without optics, you may remove solar glasses only briefly when the Sun’s disk is completely covered, and you must replace them before any bright part reappears.
Check out the list of the upcoming solar and lunar eclipses with the timelines and visibility maps in our colorful infographic.
What Can You See in the Sky During the Day: Advanced Targets
Some celestial objects are challenging to observe during the day and require careful planning and the right equipment. Other sights, such as halos and daylight fireballs, also depend on favorable conditions and a little luck. Let’s explore these advanced targets in the daytime sky.
Stars during the day
A few bright stars can be detected in daylight with binoculars or a telescope, but locating them takes careful planning. The best target for daytime stargazing is Sirius, the brightest star in the sky after the Sun. To locate it, use the Sky Tonight app. At sunset, if your eyesight is sharp, you may even try to see Sirius with your own eyes, but the chances are really low. There is a better chance of seeing stars during the total phase of a total solar eclipse, as described above.
Check the list of the brightest stars in the sky and observe them with a telescope during the day!
Satellites during the day
With the right equipment and techniques, bright artificial satellites, including the International Space Station (ISS), can be seen in daylight. However, this task is best suited to advanced astronomers.
For a better chance of seeing the ISS, try observing it during dusk or dawn. It looks like a fast-moving, bright star crossing the sky from one horizon to another. The ISS orbits Earth 16 times a day, but it flies over different parts of the Earth and varies in brightness, so you won’t spot it every day. To find out when the ISS and other satellites will be visible from your area, use the Satellite Tracker app. It provides information on all visible satellite passes and allows you to set reminders.
Daytime meteor showers
Daytime meteor showers are meteor showers with radiant points close to the Sun. Most of their meteors are washed out by sunlight, so these showers are mainly targets for radio and radar observations rather than ordinary daytime skywatching. However, you can catch some “shooting stars” in twilight before the Sun is fully up. Here is the list of the best daytime meteor showers:
- Daytime Capricornids-Sagittariids (January 13–February 4)
- Daytime Arietids (May 14–June 24)
- Sextantids (September 9–October 9)
In addition to regular meteor showers, occasional fireballs can flash across the sky. Some of them may be bright enough to be seen even in broad daylight. However, these are rare, unpredictable events and cannot be planned like a regular observing session. Most of the bodies that cause fireballs burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, although sometimes some of their fragments (called meteorites) survive to the ground.
Atmospheric effects
Beyond astronomical events, you can also observe the effects of Earth’s atmosphere. Because many of them are unpredictable, they are even more exciting to witness. How well do you know the sky’s most unusual displays? Test your knowledge with our atmospheric phenomena quiz.
Daytime effects
Here are some of the atmospheric effects you can see during the day:
- Rainbow — a colored arc formed as sunlight is refracted, internally reflected, and dispersed by water droplets;
- Halo — a ring of light that forms around the Sun (or the Moon) due to the refraction of light through ice crystals;
- Sundog — a colored patch of sunlight that appears to the left or right (or both sides) of the Sun in the sky. It is caused by the refraction of light through ice crystals and is also known as a mock Sun;
- Sun pillar — a vertical column of light produced when sunlight reflects off ice crystals in the atmosphere.
Twilight effects
Here are atmospheric effects occurring at the edge of day and night:
- The “green flash” — a flash of green light that appears near the Sun's disk just as it sets or rises. The effect occurs due to the bending and separation of different wavelengths or colors of light in Earth’s atmosphere — learn more in our guide to atmospheric refraction;
- Noctilucent clouds — silvery or bluish-white clouds that form at higher altitudes than any other cloud type. They are best seen in mid and high latitudes in summer under specific weather conditions, right after sunset or before sunrise;
- Magic (blue and golden) hours — periods around sunrise and sunset when the sky is blue or golden, providing beautiful and unique lighting for photos;
- Finally, sunrise and sunset themselves provide an excellent view for observation or astronomical photography.
For a further challenge after evening twilight or before morning twilight, look for the faint zodiacal light. At mid-latitudes, it is easiest to see on spring evenings or autumn mornings under dark, moonless skies. This glow comes from sunlight scattered by dust in the inner solar system, not from Earth’s atmosphere.
Daytime Astronomy: Key Facts
You don’t have to wait for darkness to explore the sky. Compare the Moon’s appearance during the day and after sunset, reveal Venus’s phase through a telescope, or follow sunspots with properly filtered equipment to watch the Sun’s rotation in action. Start with the easy targets and discover more as you gain experience. Open Sky Tonight to check where your target will be and plan your next daytime observing session. Good luck with your daytime observations!
