2024, February 27: Moon Approaches Spica

February 27, 2024: The moon approaches Spica.  The pair is visible before sunrise and later during the evening.

The moon and Spica, December 10, 2020
Photo Caption – 2020, December 10: The moon is to the upper left of Spica.

PODCAST FOR THIS ARTICLE

by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:29 a.m. CST; Sunset, 5:38 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

Moon Approaches Spica

Moon approaches Spica
Chart Caption – 2024, February 27: The moon approaches Spica in the west-southwest before sunrise.

Find the gibbous moon, 93% illuminated, over 20° above the west-southwest horizon at one hour before sunrise.  The moon approaches Spica, Virgo’s brightest star, nearly 15° to the lunar orb’s upper left.  The star’s name means “the ear of corn.”

Venus and Mars

2024, February 27: Venus is low in the east-southeast before sunrise.
Chart Caption – 2024, February 27: Venus is low in the east-southeast before sunrise.

Farther eastward, Venus ventures into the morning sky.  Rising about an hour before the sun, the planet is low in the east-southeast twenty minutes later.

Venus watchers may have noticed that the planet appears farther northward along the horizon than it did on New Year’s Day.  The planet’s northward direction reflects the sun’s similar track.

The sun rises farther northward during winter, passing the east point on the equinox.  Since Venus stays close to the sun in the sky, the planet’s rising point moves either northward or southward in concert with the changing sunrise point.

At this hour the planet is less than 5° above the horizon.  Most celestial bodies are not visible at this altitude and in this level of twilight, but brilliant Venus shines through the haze at the horizon and the predawn light.

2024, February 27: Venus and Mars are visible through a binocular during brighter twilight.
Chart Caption – 2024, February 27: Venus and Mars are visible through a binocular during brighter twilight.

Mars is not far from Venus in the sky, but it is washed out by the light of morning’s approaching sunrise.  Use a binocular and wait another ten minutes to see Venus and Mars together through a binocular.  The Red Planet is 2.5° to the upper right of the Morning Star.

Mercury

Tomorrow Mercury is at superior conjunction, on the far side of the sun so that it is in the same direction as the central star and not visible through conventional observing techniques.

Evening Sky

Like Mercury, Saturn is at conjunction tomorrow.  Saturn moves toward the morning sky while Mercury is visible during March for its best evening appearance of the year.

Jupiter

2024, February 27: Jupiter moves between Hamal and Menkar in the west-southwest after sunset.
Chart Caption – 2024, February 27: Jupiter moves between Hamal and Menkar in the west-southwest after sunset.

An hour after sundown, bright Jupiter is about halfway up in the west-southwestern sky.  It is the brightest starlike body in the sky this evening, easily outshining Sirius, the night’s brightest star.

The planet moves eastward in front of Aries, 11.3° to Hamal’s lower left and 12.2° to the upper right of Menkar.  While the stars are distant, Jupiter appears to pass between them.  It is nearly crossing an imaginary line between the two stars.

Jupiter sets over five hours after sundown and before midnight.

Evening Moon and Spica

Moon approaches Spica
Chart Caption – 2024, February 27: The moon approaches Spica during the night in the east-southeast.

The gibbous moon rises in the east-southeast over three hours after nightfall.  Two hours later, the moon is 4.8° above Spica.  By tomorrow morning, the moon and the star are closer together in the western sky.

RECENT PODCASTS

LATEST ARTICLES