Since annular eclipses are not accompanied by the twilight skies seen during total eclipses, they do not present an especially good opportunity to view planets in the daytime sky. Nevertheless, Venus can be observed in broad daylight provided that the sky is cloud free and of high transparency (i.e. - no dust or particulates). During the May 1994 eclipse, Venus will be located 27.7deg. east of the Sun. Look for the planet by first covering the eclipsed Sun with an extended hand. Other planets may be attempted but chances of successful detection are quite small. The following ephemeris [using Bretagnon and Simon, 1986] gives the positions of the naked eye planets during the eclipse. Delta is the distance of the planet from Earth (A.U.'s), V is the apparent visual magnitude of the planet, and Elong gives the solar elongation or angle between the Sun and planet. Note that Jupiter is near opposition and will be below the horizon during the eclipse for all observers.
Planetary Ephemeris: 10 May 1994 17:00:00 UT Equinox of Mean Date Planet RA Declination Delta V Diameter Phase Elong(deg) Sun 3h 9m25s 17d41'14" 1.0099 -26.7 1900.5" - - Mercury 3 57 1 21 56 39 1.2204 -1.2 5.5 0.87 12.0 E Venus 5 5 20 23 58 50 1.4370 -3.4 11.6 0.88 27.7 E Mars 1 15 15 6 58 12 2.1730 1.4 4.3 0.97 29.8 W Jupiter 14 26 11 -13 -1 -5 4.4349 -2.0 44.4 1.00 168.6 E Saturn 22 51 57 -8-57-48 10.0626 0.4 16.4 1.00 68.9 W
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