On page 45 of the June, 2021 edition of Sky and Telescope, one finds a general interest piece on the star Arcturus, written by Fred Schaaf. One paragraph is devoted to known daytime observations. One observation was at the time of sunset, and the other was 24 minutes prior to sunset. The 1635 telescopic observation in daylight is also mentioned (which I have mentioned on my page).

These types of observations (just before sunset or after sunrise) rely on the fact that the sky is not at full daytime brightness when the sun is close to the horizon. Most daytime observations of stars probably have some sort of strange or rare atmospheric condition helping make the star extra visible. Unfortunately, I have no further information on the observations mentioned by Fred Schaaf. However, it does sound like they were singular, brief observations.

I would classify our observations of Arcturus as something different, as the sun was almost three hours away from setting when we first noticed Arcturus.

Not that it's a competition or anything, but the three consecutive days of sightings we had, and the long duration of visibility I think makes our daytime sightings quite likely a phenomenon and circumstance that have not been previously documented.

Hopefully Mr. Schaaf and/or Sky and Telescope will at some point weigh in on the matter.

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