February 13, 2022: This morning Venus reaches its largest rising time interval before sunup. Mars and Mercury are in the southeastern sky with the brilliant Morning Star. Jupiter is the lone bright planet in the evening sky.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:49 a.m. CST; Sunset, 5:21 p.m. CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times for your location.
Morning Sky
Venus reaches its greatest rising time interval before sunrise. This morning and for the next six mornings, Venus rises 2.5 hours before sunrise. The earliest Venus rise, without account for daylight time, is 2:25 a.m. CST, June 25 – July 2, but during those nine days, the interval is less than two hours.
At forty-five minutes before sunrise, the Morning Star is over 15° above the southeast horizon. Mars, three mornings before its second conjunction with Venus, is 6.5° to the lower right of the brilliant planet. Bright Mercury, about 5° above the east-southeast horizon, is 14.4° to the lower left of Venus.
Evening Sky
In the evening sky bright Jupiter is slowly moving toward its solar conjunction on March 5th. At forty-five minutes after sunset this evening, the Jovian Giant is about 5° up in the west-southwest. Unlike Saturn, bright Jupiter can be observed close to the horizon. Continue to follow it each evening. What is the last evening that you spot it?
Farther eastward, the bright moon – 93% illuminated – is less than halfway up in the east. It is 3.1° below the star Pollux. The other Gemini Twin, Castor, is nearby, to the upper left of Pollux. The star Procyon, the Little Dog Star, is to the lower right of the moon.
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