2024, February 21: Venus is on Final Approach to Mars

February 21, 2024: Before sunrise, Venus is on final approach to Mars leading to their conjunction tomorrow morning.  Jupiter and the moon are visible after sundown.

Venus, Mars, February 27, 2015
Photo Caption – Venus, Mars, February 27, 2015

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:38 a.m. CST; Sunset, 5:31 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

2024, February 21: Two hours before sunrise, the gibbous moon is with Pollux and Castor, low in the west-northwest.
Chart Caption – 2024, February 21: Two hours before sunrise, the gibbous moon is with Pollux and Castor, low in the west-northwest.

Two hours before sunrise, the gibbous moon, 91% illuminated, is low in the west-northwest, 5.0° to the upper left of Pollux, one of the Gemini Twins.  The moon’s brightness may overwhelm Pollux and its Twin, Castor.

Venus is on Final Approach to Mars

Venus is on final approach to Mars
Chart Caption – 2024, February 21: At forty minutes before sunrise, brilliant Venus is low in the east-southeast.

Venus rises in the east-southeast sixty-eight minutes before sunrise.  Since the beginning of the month, the planet lost forty-two minutes of rising time compared to daybreak.  By forty minutes before sunup, the brilliant planet is less than 5° above the horizon.  Find an unobstructed view of the horizon in Venus’ direction.

Venus is on final approach to Mars
Chart Caption – 2024, February 21: Through a binocular Venus is above Mars.

Venus steps eastward in front of Capricornus, but the stars are not visible at this level of morning twilight. Ten minutes later, use a binocular to see Mars 0.7° below the Morning Star.  Venus passes Mars tomorrow morning.

Mercury nears superior conjunction on the far side of the sun in a week.  The planet is hiding in bright sunlight and it is not easily visible.

Evening Sky

Saturn slips into bright sunlight, setting less than 30 minutes after the sun.

Evening Moon

2024, February 21: An hour after sundown, the gibbous moon is in the eastern sky, less than halfway from Pollux to Regulus.
Chart Caption – 2024, February 21: An hour after sundown, the gibbous moon is in the eastern sky, less than halfway from Pollux to Regulus.

This evening’s bright gibbous moon, 95% illuminated, is less than halfway up in the east.  It is in front of Cancer’s dim stars, less than halfway from Gemini’s Pollux to Leo’s Regulus. The moon appears farther westward during the night, from Earth’s rotation.  Tomorrow morning the lunar orb is low in the west-northwest during morning twilight.  It sets before sunup.

Jupiter

Bright Jupiter is about halfway up in the southwest as darkness falls. It moves eastward in front of Aries.  The planet has a slow rate, but its place in front of the distant stars is easy to note from night to night.  The planet is 11.1° to the lower left of Hamal, Aries’ brightest star, and 12.5° to the upper right of Menkar, the Sea Monster’s nostril.  Jupiter is approaching an imaginary line between the two stars.

Jupiter sets in the west-northwest before midnight an over five hours after sundown. 

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