I was finally able to spot Mars while the Sun was up, but just barely! I sighted it first with binoculars and then with unaided vision at 6:25 pm CDT, which was just 2 minutes before sunset. If the weather cooperates tomorrow I'm going to try again, this time at 6:00 pm.

According to Sky and Telescope, Mars was at magnitude -2.0 today, so this is the faintest object I've ever seen in daylight. I've seen Venus and Jupiter many times under these conditions, but never Mars.

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Ok, I tried to do the same, but the results weren't quite as good. Yesterday, I managed to find Mars at 6:35 PM EDT, that's a full 8 minutes after sunset for my location. The sun was 2.3 degrees below the horizon.

The fact that the Moon should have been an easy guide post to find Mars last night was mitigated by the fact that I was attempting this in a moving car (wasn't driving), and the window was up (it's broken) with lots of reflections from other cars' headlights. After finally spotting it I had the impression that I should have been able to see it much sooner. I'll try again tonight but it doesn't look promising that I'll be able to be outside between 6 and 6:30.

The difference in longitude of our locations is approximately 0.2 degrees, +/- 0.5?? so the relation to local daylight time happens to be similar.

I saw my very first Iridium flare this morning, and it was a doozy! Magnitude -8!

I was walking out of my front door just before dawn -- the sky was a deep blue, not fully dark. I saw a bright object. First thought: Mars... no, it was white, not red, and wasn't where Mars should be at that time of day -- but it was close to where I've seen Mars recently in the evening, and I wasn't that awake anyhow, so I jumped to the wrong conclusion... :wink:

Second thought: maybe Jupiter? But as I watched, it faded away, and as I stood and followed it for several seconds, it moved toward the SSE.

I just confirmed with Heavens Above that Iridium 13 had a -8 flare at my location at exactly the time I happened to walk out this morning. I was within 4km of the predicted center. Quite a show!

I saw it Monday night, but again only a few minutes before sunset. I was able to see it through binoculars at 6:12 pm easily, but could not see it without aid until 6:22, three minutes before sunset. I'll try next month, but by then it should only be possible through binoculars.

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Try to find it again tonight--the moon won't be there to help, but it should be close to the same place and you should be able to find it with binoculars.