Less than a month before its opposition, Jupiter gleams from the southwest this morning. The planet is now rising in the east-southeast at about 10 p.m. Jupiter is retrograding near the star Zubenelgenubi.
Mars and Saturn are farther east, beyond the star Antares. Saturn rises before 2 a.m. with Mars following closely behind. Saturn’s opposition is in June. Mars’ opposition is July, three oppositions in 79 days.
This morning Mars and Saturn are about 4 degrees apart. Saturn begins to retrograde in a week (April 17).
The waning crescent moon (24 days old) is low in the east-southeast this morning, outside the frame of the planets.
The articles that follow provide details about the planets visible without optical assistance (binoculars or telescope):
- Chart and Image Collection
- 2018: The Morning Sky
- 2018: The Evening Sky
- 2018, April 2: Saturn-Mars Conjunction
- 2018: Mercury in the Morning Sky
- 2018: Mercury in the Evening Sky
- 2018: Five Planets Visible at Once
- 2018: Venus the Evening Star
- 2017-2019: Mars Observing Year with a Perihelic Opposition, July 27, 2018
- 2018: Mars Perihelic Opposition
- 2017-2018: Jupiter’s Year in the Claws of the Scorpion, A Triple Conjunction