December 2010
Volume 10, Issue 15
Free
OSA Fall Vision Meeting Abstract  |   December 2010
The visibility of Venus
Author Affiliations
  • Albert Ahumada
    NASA Ames Research Center
Journal of Vision December 2010, Vol.10, 48. doi:https://doi.org/10.1167/10.15.48
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      Albert Ahumada; The visibility of Venus. Journal of Vision 2010;10(15):48. https://doi.org/10.1167/10.15.48.

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      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

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Abstract

Venus is the only planet or star that can be seen by the naked eye during the day. Following the method of Westheimer (1985) for representing a point source as a single pixel on a screen with a resolution of 120 pixels per degree, we can convert the magnitude of Venus and the sky luminance into a luminance contrast signal with a contrast of 1.43. Detection models calibrated to the Modelfest data predict that such a target is below threshold (Watson & Ahumada, 2005). Modifications are proposed to the models to keep Venus visible.

http://vision.arc.nasa.gov/personnel/al/papers/10osa/handout.pdf

Acknowledgments
Supported by NASA Space Human Factors Engineering and the U.S. Navy. 
References
Watson, A. B., Ahumada, A. J. Jr.(2005). A standard model for foveal detection of spatial contrast. Journal of Vision, 5(9), 717–740. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Westheimer, G.(1985). The oscilloscopic view: retinal illuminance and contrast of point and line targets. Vision Research, 25, 1097–1103. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
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