On 07/02/2018 14:02, T i m wrote:

Silly question for you ... why don't you see any stars in any of the
shots from the Roadster? Is it that it's too bright in general, even
though it looked pitch black in the background?

You might just about see Venus on a video feed if it happened to be in
the field of view but it would be right on the limits of detection and
only slightly above the noise floor. Its too close to the sun now.

You can see Venus with the naked eye in daylight from the Earth if you
know exactly where to look in the sky - stand in the shadow of a
building to get a bit of help. The hard bit is tricking your eye to
focus at infinity when staring at an apparently featureless blue sky.

If you use any optical aid you *MUST* stand in the shade. You cannot
afford to look at the sun through binoculars if you value your sight.

Your best chance of seeing it with the naked eye in daytime this year is
in mid to late summer when it is magnitude -4 (substantially brighter
than Sirius) and more than 40 degrees away from the sun. See:

http://www.nakedeyeplanets.com/venus.htm

Its a lot easier if you have someone who knows where to look.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown