2024, March 18: March Moon-Pollux Conjunction

March 18, 2024: After sundown, look for the moon near Pollux.  This year’s March Moon-Pollux conjunction occurs after midnight and before they set.

Venus and Mercury, March 1, 2018
Photo Caption – Venus and Mercury, March 1, 2018

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:56 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:01 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

Here is today’s planet forecast:

Morning Sky

Venus, Saturn, and Mars

A comparison of Venus, Earth, Moon and Mars. (NASA)
Chart Caption – A comparison of Venus, Earth, Moon and Mars. (NASA)

The three morning planets – Venus, Saturn, and Mars – are mostly lost in bright twilight.  Finding Saturn is a vain attempt, because it rises less than 30 minutes before the sun.  Venus rises about 20 minutes earlier. Twenty minutes before sunrise, it is less than 4° above the horizon.  Venus aficionados can find it with a view of a clear sky with an uncluttered east-southeast horizon.

Mars rises 67 minutes before the sun.  Nearly 30 minutes later, the Red Planet is nearly 5° up in the east-southeast.  It can be seen with a binocular.

Evening Sky

Mercury Nearing Best Evening Appearance

2024, March 18: At 45 minutes after sundown, Mercury and Jupiter are in the western sky.
Chart Caption – 2024, March 18: At 45 minutes after sundown, Mercury and Jupiter are in the western sky.

Mercury is beginning its early spring show before tomorrow night’s equinox.  The bright planet is starting its best evening appearance of the year that peaks on the 24th.  Tonight, Mercury is slightly lower in the sky than the highest altitude, but it is brighter than in a week.

At 45 minutes after sundown, bright Jupiter is over one-third of the way from the western horizon to overhead.  Mercury is to the lower right of the Jovian Giant and less than 10° above the horizon.

Your extended fist, from thumb knuckle to pinky finger, is about 10° across.  Outside, orient your fist with the thumb at the top.  Place the pinky finger at the horizon.  Mercury is not higher than your thumb.

The planet is bright enough to be seen without a binocular, but the optical assist can be used to initially locate the speedy world.

As Mercury heads toward its highest point in the sky, about one fist or 10° in altitude, Jupiter appears lower each night.  There is no conjunction or even a close one.  The closest separation is about 20° as Mercury zips back into bright sunlight.

As the sky darkens, the gibbous moon, 69% illuminated and high in the southeast, is a cannot miss bright body.

Jupiter-Uranus

Fifteen minutes later, Mercury is less than 5° above the horizon. More stars are visible, although the dimmer distant suns are muted by the bright moonlight.

2024, March 18: One hour after sundown, Jupiter is in the west east of an imaginary line from Hamal to Menkar.
Chart Caption – 2024, March 18: One hour after sundown, Jupiter is in the west east of an imaginary line from Hamal to Menkar.

Jupiter is noticeably above the imaginary line that extends from Hamal to Menkar.  It moves eastward in a dim Aries star field and approaches Uranus.  Both planets are in the same binocular field of view. 

2024, March 18: Jupiter and Uranus appear in the same binocular field of view.
Chart Caption – 2024, March 18: Jupiter and Uranus appear in the same binocular field of view.

Place Jupiter toward the lower right edge of a binocular field.  Uranus appears to the upper left, to the upper left of dimmer 53 Arietis (53 Ari on the chart)  

Jupiter is moving toward the star Sigma Arietis (σ Ari), passing by in three nights.

March Moon-Pollux Conjunction

March Moon-Pollux conjunction
Chart Caption – 2024, March 18: One hour after sundown, the gibbous moon is near Pollux.

The gibbous moon is high in the south-southeast, 3.3° to the right of Pollux, one of the Gemini Twins.  To see the star near the bright moon, block the moon with your hand to reduce its glare.

Unlike other bright stars near the ecliptic, the moon does not occult or eclipse this star. In the moon’s travel along its orbit, the moon does not revolve far enough north to reach the star. After midnight and before the lunar disk sets, it passes 2.1° south of the star.  The lunar orb sets more than two hours before sunrise.

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