January 8, 2024: This morning, a Moon-Antares occultation occurs in the southeastern sky. West Coast sky watchers have the best view.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:18 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 4:37 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
This morning the crescent moon occults or eclipses the bright star Antares, the Scorpion’s heart. Such events occur when the moon passes across our view of a more distant planet, asteroid, or far away star. Occultations of bright stars and planets by the moon are interesting events to watch. On occasions planets occult distant stars. This morning watch the Moon-Antares occultation.
Until August 2028, the moon occults Antares each month. Each event is visible from different parts of the world. This morning’s occultation is visible across large regions of North America, Central America, and northwest South America. Next month’s (February 5) stellar eclipse is visible for sky watchers in Central Asia.
This morning the occultation is best observed from the American West where the event occurs during morning twilight. Farther eastward, the star slips behind the moon in bright twilight. On the American East Coast the moon begins to cover the sun after sunrise.
Moon-Antares Occultation Events
Here’s what to look for: The thin crescent moon and Venus shine brightly from the southeast before sunrise. Antares is near the illuminated crescent, on the moon’s eastern rim or limb. As Earth rotates, the bodies are higher in the sky, but the moon slowly ambles to the east and the crescent nearly seems to touch the star. Then the star disappears behind the illuminated limb, starting the occultation. Depending on the location, the star reappears from the moon’s dark limb around an hour later, ending the stellar eclipse.
Follow the moon’s slow eastward motion through a telescope or a binocular. For sky watchers farther eastward in the Americas, the binocular may not be able to see the star in the bright morning light after it reappears west of the dark lunar limb.
In Chicago, the occultation begins at 8:10 a.m. CST, over half an hour after sunrise and the star reappears at 9:26 a.m.
Farther westward in Denver, the event begins at 6:43 a.m. MST, about forty minutes before sunrise and the star reappears at 7:59 a.m., about 30 minutes after sunup.
In Los Angeles, the occultation begins at 5:39 a.m. PST, shortly after the beginning of morning twilight. It ends at 6:28 a.m., nearly 30 minutes before sunrise.
Rare Venus, Moon, Antares Gathering
In addition to the occultation, Venus, Moon, and Antares make a compact grouping that fits into a binocular’s field of view. This is the closest these three bodies appear together until 2045. Groupings of the three occur in the interim, but not as close as this morning’s bundle.
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