2023, November 4: Saturn’s Retrograde Ends

Astronomy, Sky Watching

November 4, 2023:  Saturn’s retrograde ends near the Aquarius-Capricornus border.  The planet resumes a slow eastward trek.

Venus, Jupiter, Mars.
Photo Caption – 2015, November 1: Venus, Jupiter, Mars.

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois:  Sunrise, 7:27 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 5:42 p.m. CDT.  Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.

black and gray desk globe
Photo Caption – Earth Globe (Photo by lilartsy on)

Today is the last day of Daylight Saving Time for this year in North American time zones.  Tomorrow, clocks are turned back one hour. They are reset to the position of the sun, rather than running at one hour faster than the central star.

There is some misconception that turning back the clock removes an hour of daylight.  Today daylight’s length is ten hours, fifteen minutes.  Tomorrow the length is ten hours, twelve minutes, a loss of three minutes from the seasonal effects of Earth’s revolution around the sun and our planet’s tilt.

Saturn’s retrograde – apparent westward movement compared to the distant stars – is depicted during four and one-half months.
Chart Caption – Saturn’s retrograde – apparent westward movement compared to the distant stars – is depicted during four and one-half months.

Saturn’s retrograde ends today, near the Aquarius-Capricornus border.  The planet’s retrograde started June 18th.  Saturn passed opposition August 27th.  The apparent westward motion lasted one hundred, thirty-nine days.

The illusion of retrograde is from Earth overtaking and passing between a planet farther from the sun than Earth.  Imagine an arrow starting at Earth and pointing through Saturn toward the distant starfield.  From night to night, normally, the arrow points eastward against that starfield.  As our world overtakes the planet, the eastward movement halts and then the arrow shifts westward.  The planet does not stop moving and suddenly move westward.  The line of sight continues to shift westward or retrograde through opposition.  After an interval, the westward direction stops and reverses course again, seemingly resuming the eastward movement.

Early astronomers attempted to describe retrograde with Earth-centered models where the planets and sun revolved around our stationary world.  They placed circles on top of circles to show retrograde while the planets moved around Earth.  Not until the invention of high-quality telescopes and measuring instruments during the 19th Century, could astronomers demonstrate that Earth revolves around the sun and retrograde is an illusion.

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

Here is today’s planet forecast:

Morning Sky

2023, November 4: The moon is in the southern sky before sunrise, to the east of Pollux, a Gemini Twin.
Chart Caption – 2023, November 4: The moon is in the southern sky before sunrise, to the east of Pollux, a Gemini Twin.

The slightly gibbous moon, 58% illuminated, is high in the south during morning twilight.  It reaches its morning half phase (Last Quarter) tomorrow morning.

This morning the lunar orb is in front of Cancer’s dim stars, 8.7° to the lower left of Pollux, one of the Gemini Twins.

2023, November 4: Through a binocular, Venus is near Zavijava.
Chart Caption – 2023, November 4: Through a binocular, Venus is near Zavijava.

Brilliant Venus, rising a few minutes before four hours before sunrise, gleams from the eastern sky before daybreak.  One hour before sunup, it is over 30° above the east-southeast horizon. It continues to move along its eastward journey through Virgo.

Through a binocular, Venus appears near the star Zavijava, also known as Beta Virginis. The morning star is 1.7° to the upper right of the star.  Venus passes the star in two mornings.

Jupiter
Photo Caption – Jupiter (NASA Photo)

Bright Jupiter is about 10° up in the western sky at this hour.  Still near opposition, the Jovian Giant is in the sky all night.  For sky watchers with telescopes, the Great Red Spot is visible at the center of the planet in the southern hemisphere at 5:09 a.m. CDT.  The spot was visible one Jupiter day ago, when it was in the eastern sky after sundown yesterday.

Evening Sky

2023, November 4: Saturn is in the south-southeast after nightfall.
Chart Caption – 2023, November 4: Saturn is in the south-southeast after nightfall.

Mercury and Mars are not visible.  They are too close to the sun to be seen.  Mars sets eleven minutes after the sun, followed by Mercury ten minutes later.

After sundown, Saturn is over 30° up in the south-southeast.  Its retrograde ends 6.7° to the left of Deneb Algedi, meaning the “kid’s tail.”  For the next several evenings, the planet does not seem to move eastward much.  Then its general direction is toward Skat, the Aquarian’s leg, and Lambda Aquarii (λ Aqr on the chart).

During the night, Saturn is south over two hours after sunset.  It sets in the west-southwest after midnight, long before Venus rises.

2023, November 4: Jupiter is in the eastern sky two hours after sundown.
Chart Caption – 2023, November 4: Jupiter is in the eastern sky two hours after sundown.

Jupiter is visible after sunset in the eastern sky.  By two hours after sundown, it clears many terrestrial visual obstacles and it is over 20° up in the east.  It retrogrades in front of Aries.  Use a binocular to find Menkar.  Notice that Jupiter is west (to the right) of an imaginary line from Hamal to Menkar. The Jovian Giant is south around midnight and in the western sky before daybreak.

2023, November 4: As midnight approaches, the moon is in the east-northeast.
Chart Caption – 2023, November 4: As midnight approaches, the moon is in the east-northeast.

The moon rises about six hours after sunset.  As the midnight hour approaches, the lunar orb is over 10° above the east-northeast horizon and nearly 20° to the lower left of Pollux.

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