2024, February 20: February’s Moon-Pollux Conjunction

February 20, 2024: Look for February’s Moon-Pollux conjunction in the eastern sky after sunset.  Find bright Jupiter in the southwest.

Venus and moon during morning twilight, August 16, 2020.
2020, August 16: The brilliant planet Venus is about 12° to the upper right of the crescent moon. Pollux is 6.6° to the left of the lunar crescent.

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:40 a.m. CST; Sunset, 5:30 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

Venus

2024, February 20: Venus is near the east-southeast horizon before sunrise.
Chart Caption – 2024, February 20: Venus is near the east-southeast horizon before sunrise.

Venus continues to slide into brighter morning twilight. It rises a few minutes later each morning compared to sunrise.  By forty-five minutes before daybreak, the Morning Star is less than 5° above the east-southeast horizon.  Find a clear spot looking in the planet’s direction.  A hilltop or elevated structure helps the view.

Venus and Mars

2024, February 20: Venus and Mars are visible through a binocular.
Chart Caption – 2024, February 20: Venus and Mars are visible through a binocular.

Venus is stepping eastward compared to Capricornus and it is overtaking dimmer Mars.  By thirty minutes before sunrise, Venus and Mars appear in the same binocular field of view.  The Red Planet is 1.1° to the lower left of Venus.

Venus passes Mars at a distance of 0.6° in two mornings.  The next Venus-Mars conjunction occurs January 7, 2026, but the two planets appear near the sun. The next visible conjunction occurs November 24, 2027 when the two planets are low in the western sky after nightfall.

Mercury

Mercury nears superior conjunction on the far side of the sun in eight days. It rises a few minutes before the sun this morning.  After conjunction the planet moves into the evening sky for its best evening appearance of the year.

Evening Sky

Saturn slips into brighter twilight, nearing its solar conjunction on the 28th, coincidentally the same date as Mercury’s superior conjunction.  Losing four minutes of setting time compared to sunset each evening, the Ringed Wonder sets nearly thirty minutes after nightfall.

February’s Moon-Pollux Conjunction

February’s Moon-Pollux Conjunction
Chart Caption – 2024, February 20: The gibbous moon is near Pollux in the eastern sky after sunset.

This evening the gibbous moon, 89% illuminated, is high in the eastern sky.  It is 1.9° to the lower right of Pollux, a Gemini Twin.  The star’s proximity to the moon may make it difficult to see the star in this moonlight.  Block the moon with your extended hand as you would to shade your eyes from the sun’s glare.

Castor, the second Twin, is 4.5° to the upper left of Pollux.

Jupiter

2024, February 20: Jupiter is in the southwest after sunset.
Chart Caption – 2024, February 20: Jupiter is in the southwest after sunset.

Bright Jupiter is over halfway up in the southwest.  From night to night, it moves eastward compared to Aries’ distant stars.  This evening the planet is 11.1° to the lower left of Hamal, Aries’ brightest star, and 12.6° to the upper right of Menkar, Cetus’ nostril.  The planet nears an imaginary line between the two stars.

Jupiter sets before midnight.  In comparison, the moon is in the sky for almost the entire night. It sets in the west-northwest about an hour before sunrise.

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