2023, October 24: Venus, Jupiter, Bookend Bright Orion

October 24, 2023: Morning planets Venus and Jupiter bookend many bright stars, including Orion.  The moon is near Saturn during the evening.

2020, July 6: The bright moon is 3.2° to the lower left of Saturn and 6.4° to the left of bright Jupiter. The Jupiter – Saturn gap is 6.3°.
2020, July 6: The bright moon is 3.2° to the lower left of Saturn and 6.4° to the left of bright Jupiter. The Jupiter – Saturn gap is 6.3°.

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois:  Sunrise, 7:13 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 5:56 p.m. CDT.  Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.

Summaries of Current Sky Events
Summary for Venus as a Morning Star, 2023-24

Here is today’s planet forecast:

Morning Sky

2023, October 24: Venus is in the east in front of Leo before daybreak.
Chart Caption – 2023, October 24: Venus is in the east in front of Leo before daybreak.

Step outside an hour before daybreak.  Brilliant Venus is about 30° up in the east-southeast.  It rises nearly four hours before sunrise and stands in the eastern sky during morning twilight.

The Morning star is stepping eastward against the distant Leo starfield.  Earlier during October, Venus passed Regulus, the constellation’s brightest star, and last week, it passed Rho Leonis (ρ Leo on the chart).  Yesterday it passed Chertan.  As it moves eastward in front of the stars, it crosses the Leo-Virgo border November 3rd.

2023, October 24: Jupiter is in the west during morning twilight.
Chart Caption – 2023, October 24: Jupiter is in the west during morning twilight.

Jupiter is farther westward.  The second brightest starlike body in the sky this morning, the Jovian Giant is over 20° above the western horizon.

As opposition approaches on November 3rd when the planet is closest to Earth and brightest in the sky, it retrogrades in front of Aries, 12.0° to the left of Hamal, the Ram’s brightest star.

Jupiter’s retrograde motion against the starfield is demonstrated for 2023.
Chart Caption – Jupiter’s retrograde motion against the starfield is demonstrated for 2023.

Retrograde motion is an illusion as our faster-moving planet moves between the sun and a more-distant planet.  (Mercury and Venus retrograde, as well, but their westward motion is from their speed that is faster than Earth.)  Normally the planets move eastward against the starry background, but Earth’s faster velocity seems to make them back up against the distant suns. In four days, Jupiter moves between Hamal and Menkar, part of Cetus.

Jupiter
Photo Caption – Jupiter (NASA Photo)

For sky watchers with telescopes, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is visible twice today, when it appears at the center of the planet in the southern hemisphere. The first is 1:08 a.m. CDT, when the planet is high in the southern sky.  The second appearance, two Jupiter days after this morning’s sighting, in the western hemisphere occurs, 8:59 p.m. CDT, when the planet is in the eastern sky.

Venus and Jupiter bookend a section of the Milky Way with several bright stars, including, Sirius, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Procyon, Aldebaran, Pollux, and Capella, half of the dozen brightest stars visible from the mid-northern latitudes.

Evening Sky

Mars at opposition, 2016 and 2018
These side-by-side images of Mars, taken roughly two years apart, show very different views of the same hemisphere of Mars. Both were captured when Mars was near opposition, which occurs about every two years, when Earth’s orbit catches up to Mars’ orbit. At that time, the Sun, Earth, and Mars fall in a straight line, with Mars and the Sun on “opposing” sides of Earth. (NASA Photo)

Mercury and Saturn are not visible.  The inner-most planet is moving away from superior conjunction to a difficult-to-see evening appearance, while the Red Planet moves toward solar conjunction next month.

2023, October 24: Saturn and the moon are in the southeast after sunset.
Chart Caption – 2023, October 24: Saturn and the moon are in the southeast after sunset.

The bright moon, 81% illuminated, is in the southeast as night falls.  The moon’s Full phase occurs on the 28th at 3:24 p.m. CDT, before it rises in the western hemisphere.

As the sky darkens, Saturn is 9.3° to the upper right of the lunar orb and nearly 20° above the star Fomalhaut, the mouth of the Southern Fish.

For sky watchers with telescopes, the large moon Titan, is to the west of the Ringed Wonder.  Not much magnification is needed to see the planet’s globe, rings, and this titanic moon.  The Saturnian satellite is larger than Mercury and has a thick atmosphere.  The moon’s color is yellow-orange.

During the night, Saturn is farther westward, south three hours after sundown.  It sets in the west-southwest, five hours before daybreak, and an over an hour before Venus rises.

2023, October 24: Two hours after nightfall, Jupiter is in the eastern sky.
Chart Caption – 2023, October 24: Two hours after nightfall, Jupiter is in the eastern sky.

At an hour after sundown, Jupiter is over 5° above the east-northeast horizon.  Wait another hour to see it higher.  By then, it is over 15° above the eastern horizon.  By midnight, Jupiter is high in the southeast and Saturn is over 20° up in the southwest.  Tomorrow morning it again bookends the bright stars of the Orion region with Venus.

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