2024, February 15: Spot Planet Uranus near February Moon

February 15, 2024: After sundown, spot planet Uranus near the February Moon.  Bright Jupiter is nearby.

Uranus, Mars, February 8, 2019
2019, February 8: Mars is nearly 3 degrees to the lower right of Uranus this evening

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:47 a.m. CST; Sunset, 5:23 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

Venus

2024, February 15: Venus is low in the east-southeast at forty-five minutes before sunrise.
Chart Caption – 2024, February 15: Venus is low in the east-southeast at forty-five minutes before sunrise.

Venus shines from the east-southeast during morning twilight.  The Morning Star is lower in the sky each morning.  It rises seventy-nine minutes before the sun.  At forty-five minutes before daybreak, the planet is about 5° above the horizon.

Venus, Mars through Binocular

2024, February 15: At thirty minutes before daybreak, Venus and Mars are in the same binocular field of view.
Chart Caption – 2024, February 15: At thirty minutes before daybreak, Venus and Mars are in the same binocular field of view.

Venus is overtaking Mars, that is emerging from bright sunlight.  Venus passes the Red Planet on the 22nd.  This morning at thirty minutes before the sun rises, Venus is 3.3° to the upper right of Mars.  Use a binocular to find dim Mars near Venus.

Mercury

Mercury moves toward superior conjunction on the sun’s far side on the 28th.  It is in bright sunlight and is not easily visible.

Evening Sky

Saturn

Saturn is approaching solar conjunction in less than two weeks.  The planet is awash in bright sunlight during evening twilight.  It sets less than an hour after sunset.

Jupiter, Uranus, Moon

Spot Planet Uranus near February Moon
Chart Caption – 2024, February 15: Jupiter and the moon are in the southwest after sundown.

Look for the moon, 43% illuminated, high in the southwest after sundown.  The phase is half-full or First Quarter tomorrow at 9:01 a.m. CST.

Bright Jupiter is over 10° to the lower right of the lunar orb.  The Jovian Giant is slowly moving eastward in front of Aries. To note its eastward direction, the planet is approaching an imaginary line from Hamal, 11.0° to the upper right of Jupiter, to Menkar, 12.8° to the lower left.

Spot Planet Uranus near February Moon

Spot Planet Uranus near February Moon
Chart Caption – 2024, February 15: Uranus is in the same binocular field of view with the moon.

Planet Uranus is in the same binocular field with the moon this evening.  Without the moon as a guide, the planet is relatively easy to locate about halfway from Jupiter to the Pleiades star cluster. This evening the planet is 2.8° to the lower left of the lunar orb.

Uranus’ brightness is at the edge of human eyesight.  It can be seen from rural areas that are free from outdoor lighting.  The planet was initially identified as a dim star.  After the invention of larger telescope and systematic observing programs, Uranus was observed to move compared to the distant starfield.  The observer was William Herschel in 1781.

To locate Uranus, place the moon at the center of the binocular field.  The stars, identified by their names as Greek letters, Delta (δ Ari on the chart), Zeta (ζ Ari), Epsilon (ε Ari) and Rho (ρ Ari) in Aries are in the field of view with the lunar slice.  Rho is below the moon and slightly brighter than Uranus.  Appearing starlike through a binocular, Uranus is to the left of Rho and the moon’s lower left.  A telescope with significant magnification is needed to see the planet’s globe.

Tonight, Jupiter sets before midnight, followed by the moon over an hour later.

Across the world tomorrow evening, the moon appears near the Pleiades star cluster.  By the time night falls in the Americas, the lunar orb is east of the stellar bundle.

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