March 30, 2024: Before sunrise, the moon is near the star Antares. After sundown, Jupiter and Mercury are in the western sky.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:36 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:15 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
Morning Moon-Antares Conjunction
The gibbous moon approaches Antares in the predawn sky. At one hour before sunrise, the lunar orb, 77% illuminated, is over 20° up in the south-southwest. Look carefully for Antares, 2.4° to the moon’s upper left.
The moon continues to approach the star and it covers or occults it. This occurs during the daytime and after the pair sets from the Americas. The occultation is fully observed for sky watchers in Micronesia and Polynesia.
This is the ninth occultation in a series of 69 monthly events, when the moon occults the star through August 27, 2028. The next one visible from the Americas occurs May 23rd for sky watchers in the Southeastern US, Mexico, Central America, South America, and Caribbean basin. The event is ending when the moon rises in the American Midwest.
Look for Star Cluster Near Antares
Look at the moon and Antares through a binocular, even though the moonlight may leave a temporary after image in your vision. Notice a small, fuzzy cloud between the lunar orb and the star. This is a distant star cluster, cataloged as Messier 4 (M4 on the chart).
Return to this region when the moon is a crescent or not visible. The cluster is easy to find through a binocular. Place Antares at the center of the field, and the cluster is nearby to the lower right. Through a telescope at modest magnifying powers of less than 100x, stars in the cluster become visible.
Messier 4 is known as a globular star cluster and this type generally revolves around the Milky Way galaxy outside the galactic plane. Unlike the Pleiades or Beehive star clusters that have hundreds of stars, globulars seem to be densely packed with thousands and thousands of stars.
Morning Planets
This morning’s planets are mostly in the growing twilight in the eastern sky. Mars rises 71 minutes before the sun. Thirty minutes later, it is over 5° up in the east-southeast, and visible through a binocular. The sky is too bright to see the Red Planet at this time.
Saturn, gaining two minutes of rising time each morning, crosses the horizon 20 minutes after Mars rises. The sky is too bright to see Saturn, when it is high enough for inspection with a binocular.
Venus rises 30 minutes before sunrise and 15 minutes later it is less than 3° above the horizon. Sky conditions are very unfavorable to see the Morning Star.
Evening Sky
Jupiter and Mercury
Bright Jupiter is the easiest to see of the five bright planets. At 45 minutes after nightfall, the Jovian Giant stands about 25° above the western horizon. It is slowly moving eastward in front of Aries, nearly 15° to the upper left of Hamal, the Ram’s brightest star.
Mercury, after its best evening appearance of the year, is departing the western sky. At this hour it is over 7° above the western horizon and over 20° to Jupiter’s lower right. Use a binocular to see the planet through the colorful layers of evening twilight. The planet is dimming each evening, and it is not visible to the unassisted eye.
Mercury aficionados can chase it into bright evening twilight for about another week.
Jupiter, Uranus through a Binocular
Aim the binocular at Jupiter. When the planet is placed near the center of the field, a few of its largest moons are visible. Then move the Jovian Giant toward the bottom of the field. Use the accompanying chart to identify Rho Arietis (ρ Ari on the chart), to Jupiter’s upper right. The star is inside a triangle of three dimmer stars. Delta Arietis (δ Ari) is toward the upper right edge of the field. Look for the stars 53 and 54 to Delta’s lower left. Delta and 54 are about the same color. Star 53 is bluish. Then place 53 near the center of the field. Uranus, brighter than stars 53 and 54, is about one third of the way from 53 toward the field’s upper left edge. A telescope with large magnifications is required to see Uranus’ globe.
Jupiter sets about three hours after sundown in the west-northwest.
The moon rises tomorrow morning over five hours before sunrise. It is in the southern sky to the east of Antares during morning twilight.
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