2023, February 28: Venus Approaches Jupiter, Moon Gored

February 28, 2023: One night before their close conjunction, Venus approaches Jupiter in the west-southwest after sundown.  The moon is near the horns of Taurus with Mars nearby.

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois:  Sunrise, 6:27 a.m. CST; Sunset, 5:40 p.m. CST.  Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times for your location.  Times are calculated from the U.S. Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot’s transit times, when it is in the center of the planet in the southern hemisphere: 8:38 UT, 18:34 UT. Convert the time to your time zone. In the US, subtract five hours for EST, six hours for CST, and so on.  Use a telescope to see the spot.  Times are from Sky & Telescope magazine.

Here is today’s planet forecast:

Morning Sky

The morning sky has two bright planets, but they are hidden by bright early morning twilight.  Mercury – heading for its superior conjunction next month – rises about 20 minutes before sunup, followed by Saturn a few minutes later.  This already occurs during bright twilight and by the time they are high enough to see, the sun rises.

Mercury passes Saturn in two mornings, when they are less than 15° from the sun and only rising about 15 minutes before the sun.  Technically, it is a conjunction, but it is not visible by conventional means.

After Mercury’s superior conjunction on March 17^th, it jumps into the evening sky, passing Jupiter on the 27^th.

Saturn continues to rise earlier each morning, first appearing higher in the eastern sky and before the occurrence of bright twilight around the time of the equinox.

Evening Sky

Venus is only 1.3° to the lower right of Jupiter this evening.  Tomorrow Venus passes the Jovian Giant in a close conjunction.  The two planets will not “seem to merge into a single point.”  They’ll be separated by a distance slightly larger than the diameter of the Full moon.

Forty-five minutes after sundown, Venus is about 20° above the west-southwest horizon.  It is the brightest starlike object in the sky, rivaling the lights on a low-flying airplane.  Slightly dimmer Jupiter is immediately to its upper left.

After tomorrow’s conjunction, Venus steps to the east, opening a gap each evening. The planet is within 10° of Jupiter until March 11^th.

Capture the conjunction with a tripod mounted camera and exposures up to a few seconds.

The bright gibbous moon, 66% illuminated, is high in the south-southeast after sundown, near the Bull’s horns, certainly a precarious place to be.

The lunar orb is 6.4° to the lower left of Elnath, the northern horn, and 7.3° to the upper left of Zeta Tauri, the southern horn.

Mars, 4.8° to the lower left of Elnath, is marching eastward in front of Taurus.  It passes Elnath on March 9^th, moves between the horns on the 11^th, and passes Zeta Tauri on the 14^th.  The planet’s brightness fades as Earth moves away.  This evening Mars is slightly brighter than Aldebaran and about the same brightness as Betelgeuse.

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