November 8, 2021: Brilliant Evening Star and the crescent moon shine among the stars of Sagittarius after sunset. Bright Mercury is a challenging view before sunrise.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:32 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:36 p.m. CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times for your location.
Morning Sky
Mercury is galloping into bright morning twilight. It is more difficult to see each morning. The speedy planet is bright, but during bright morning twilight a binocular is needed.
Look low in the east-southeast with a binocular. It is over 5° above the horizon.
Evening Sky
The planet pack – Evening Star Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter – dominates the sky after sunset. Look for Venus about 13° up in the southwest. It is very bright and can be mistaken for the lights of an airplane.
The planet is among the stars of Sagittarius. It is 3.0° to the upper right of Kaus Media – “the middle part of the bow” of Sagittarius. The shape most looks like a teapot, rather than a centaur. The figure is sometimes called the Archer. On the chart note the northern part of the bow – Kaus Borealis – and the southern part of the bow, Kaus Australis. Alnasl is “the point of the arrow.”
The crescent moon, 22% illuminated, is 9.8° to the upper left of Venus and 1.0° to the lower left of Nunki, in the handle of the Teapot.
Venus is stepping about 1° to the east each evening. Jupiter and Saturn move slowly eastward. Venus is quickly closing the gap to Saturn, but Earth’s nearest planet does not reach the Ringed Wonder. A Venus-Saturn conjunction occurs next year after both planets pass their solar conjunctions early during 2022.
Bright Jupiter is 15.5° to the left of Saturn. The planets are in front of the stars Capricornus, moving slowly east compared to the stellar backdrop.
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