November 15, 2023: The crescent moon returns to the western sky after nightfall. Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn are visible during the night.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:40 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:30 p.m. CST. 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
Brilliant Venus shines from the eastern sky before sunrise. Rising nearly four hours before the sun, the Morning Star is 30° above the east-southeast horizon at one hour before daybreak. It steps eastward each morning in front of Virgo’s stars. The planet is nearly midway from Zaniah to Porrima. Use a binocular to spot the planet between the two dimmer stars. In two mornings, Venus passes Porrima.
Notice Spica, over 16° to the lower left of the planet. Venus passes by November 29th.
Spica is the tenth brightest star visible from the mid-northern latitudes. Shining from a distance of 250 light years, it is one thousand, nine hundred times brighter than the sun.
Compare Spica’s brightness and color to Arcturus, 25° up in the east, lower than Venus. Arcturus is the second brightest star visible for northern locales and the brightest in the northern half of the sky. It shines from a distance less than forty light years with a brightness of over 100 suns.
Through a telescope, Venus displays phases. This morning the phase is 61% illuminated, a morning gibbous phase. This phase is a demonstration that the planet revolves around the sun, but not first observed until after the invention of the telescope in 1610. If Venus revolves around Earth as proposed in early solar system models, Venus would only display new, crescent and half phases.
Jupiter is not visible at this hour. At two hours before sunrise, the Jovian Giant is less than 10° up in the west-northwest, nearly 150° from Venus. The Venus-Jupiter opposition occurs December 10th.
Evening Sky
Mercury and Mars are not visible. Mercury nears the evening greatest elongation. This evening it sets nearly forty minutes after the sun. Mars, hiding in the sun’s glare, is nearly at solar conjunction.
At forty-five minutes after sunset, the crescent moon, 8% illuminated, is about 5° above the southwest horizon. Each evening it is higher in the sky and the phase is growing or waxing. The First Quarter phase occurs on the 20th.
Use a binocular to see Kaus Borealis and Nunki, part of Sagittarius, about 15° to the upper left of the lunar crescent. Additionally look for earthshine on the moon’s night portion, between the lunar cusps or horns.
As the sky darkens further, Saturn is over 30° above the south-southeast horizon at an hour after sundown. The planet is crawling slowly eastward in front of Aquarius, generally heading toward Skat and Lambda Aquarii (λ Aqr on the chart). This evening the Ringed Wonder is in the same binocular field with Deneb Algedi, Capricornus’ tail. The gap is 6.8°.
At this hour, bright Jupiter is over 15° above the eastern horizon. It retrogrades, appears to move westward compared to the starfield, 11.4° to the lower right of Hamal, Aries brightest star, and 12.6° above Menkar, that is near the horizon. Use a binocular to see the dimmer stars.
The two planets appear westward along the horizon during the night. Saturn sets in the west-southwest around midnight. When Saturn sets, Jupiter is southward. The solar system’s largest planet is in the western sky when Venus rises.
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