September 10, 2022: The Morning Harvest Moon is in the west-southwest, near Jupiter, before sunrise and in the east after sunset. Mars continues its eastward trek through Taurus.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:26 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:09 p.m. CDT. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times for your location.
With the moon at its full phase during morning twilight, the Harvest Moon effect is in motion. As a traditional aid to the harvest before the invention of outdoor electric lighting, this season’s moon rises from night to night at very short intervals from the previous nights. This places the moon in the eastern sky after sunset and above the horizon nearly all night.
This evening the moon rises only 25 minutes later than last night and about 30 minutes after sunset. After sunset the sky darkens, but then brightens when the moon rises. Take a moonlit walk this evening or in the morning when the moon is close to Jupiter in the west-southwest.
Morning Sky
SUMMARY OF PLANETS IN 2022 MORNING SKY
The bright moon reaches its Full phase at 4:59 a.m. CDT. At this hour, the lunar orb is low in the west-southwest. It is less than 20° to the lower right of bright Jupiter. Look for them closer together this evening in the eastern sky after sundown.
Whether last night was your Harvest Moon or you will note it this evening, the bright moon is in the morning sky and at its Full phase point this morning.
With this bright moonlight, the background stars near Mars are difficult to see. The Red Planet is to the upper left of Aldebaran. A binocular is helpful to see Mars and the stars.
This is likely the last morning to see Mars with the Hyades and Aldebaran in the same binocular field of view. Move the binocular slightly up and to the left to include Epsilon Tauri (ε Tau on the charts), Mars, and Tau Tauri (τ Tau). Mars is moving generally toward Tau, passing 1.8° to the lower right of the star in a few mornings. This morning the separation is 2.1°.
This morning Venus rises 59 minutes before sunrise as it continues to slip into bright morning twilight. Twenty minutes later, the Morning Star is only 3° above the east-northeast horizon.
Evening Sky
At one hour after sunset, the bright moon, 99% illuminated, is just above the eastern horizon, 9.1° to the right of Jupiter.
Saturn is over 20° above the southeast horizon.
As Earth rotates the planets appear high in the eastern sky, with Mars following Jupiter about four hours after sunset.
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