2024, March 31: Mercury is Departing Evening Sky

Astronomy, Sky Watching

March 31, 2024: Mercury is departing the evening sky.  Find it through a binocular after nightfall.

Venus and Mercury, March 2, 2018
Photo Caption – Venus and Mercury, March 2, 2018

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:34 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:16 p.m. CDT.  Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.

At Chicago’s latitude, daylight lasts 12 hours, 32 minutes.  During March daylight gained 85 minutes, from the sun’s more northerly daily arc across the sky.

The move to daylight time did not add any more daylight.  It merely shifted daylight to later in the day.

Summaries of Current Sky Events
Summary for Venus as a Morning Star, 2023-24

Here is today’s planet forecast:

Morning Sky

Morning Moon

2024, March 31: Before sunup, the slightly gibbous moon is in front of Ophiuchus and above Scorpius.
Chart Caption – 2024, March 31: Before sunup, the slightly gibbous moon is in front of Ophiuchus and above Scorpius.

An hour before sunup, the waning gibbous moon, 68% illuminated, is nearly 20° above the southern horizon.  It is in front of Ophiuchus and above Scorpius. The lunar orb is over 10° to the lower left of Antares, the Scorpion’s brightest star.

The moon is at its morning half phase (Last Quarter) tomorrow at 10:15 p.m. CDT, before it rises in the Americas.

Scorpius resembles its namesake.  Antares marks the Scorpion’s heart.  The claws reach westward.  The arachnid’s body curves downward toward the horizon and the tail sweeps upward, ending at Shaula and Lesath at the Scorpion’s stinger.  The stellar pair is also known as the Cat’s eyes.

Sagittarius is east or to the left of the Scorpion.  The Archer resembles a teapot and many sky watchers use that moniker to name these stars.

Milky Way

This image shows the star-studded center of the Milky Way towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The crowded center of our galaxy contains numerous complex and mysterious objects that are usually hidden at optical wavelengths by clouds of dust — but many are visible here in these infrared observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Photo Caption – This image shows the star-studded center of the Milky Way towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The crowded center of our galaxy contains numerous complex and mysterious objects that are usually hidden at optical wavelengths by clouds of dust — but many are visible here in these infrared observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. (Photo Credit: ESA, NASA)

Sagittarius and Scorpius bracket the Milky Way and the multitude of celestial wonders that hide there.  The galaxy’s center is in that direction, although it is blocked from easy observation by dust and fluorescing gas clouds.

Morning Planets

Mars - This image shows the globe of Mars set against a dark background. The disc of the planet features yellow, orange, blue and green patches, all with an overall muted grey hue, representing the varying composition of the surface.
Chart Caption – To mark 20 years of ESA’s Mars Express, the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) team has produced a new global color mosaic: Mars as never seen before. The mosaic reveals the planet’s surface color and composition in spectacular detail. (Photo: European Space Agency, ESA)

The morning sky is without a bright planet that is easily visible.  Three are in brighter morning twilight.  Mars seems to struggle to emerge from the sun’s light.  While the Red Planet steps eastward, it gains one minute of rising time compared to sunrise every three days.  This morning, it rises 71 minutes before the sun and at 40 minutes before daybreak, it appears over 5° above the east-southeast horizon.  It can be found with a binocular, but it is not bright enough to see without the optical assist.

Saturn, gaining two minutes of rising time each day, rises less than 20 minutes after Mars.  The Ringed Wonder is washed out by morning twilight.

Brilliant Venus, heading toward superior conjunction during early June, rises during bright twilight, thirty minutes before the sun.  By 15 minutes before sunup, the planet is about 3° above the eastern horizon.  Theoretically, it is visible, but practically, seeing the planet is a very challenging observation.

Evening Sky

Mercury Leaving Evening Sky

Mercury is departing the evening sky
Chart Caption – 2024, March 31: Bright Jupiter and dimming Mercury are in the west after nightfall.

After its best evening appearance of the year, Mercury is departing the evening sky, appearing lower and dimmer each evening after sunset.  Now a binocular object – meaning that a binocular is needed to see it – Mercury is in the western sky during evening twilight.

Mercury has two favorable morning appearances, September 4th and December 24th.  On both apparitions in the eastern predawn sky, the planet is nearly 10° above the horizon.  The next morning appearance, May 9th, is very unfavorable for easy observation.

To see Mercury, first locate Jupiter, the bright star that is in the western sky at 45 minutes after sundown.  The Jovian Giant outshines all other stars this evening.

Mercury is over 20° to Jupiter’s lower right.  It is over 6° above the western horizon and over 10° to the right of the west cardinal direction.  Aim your binocular at the horizon below Jupiter, keeping the horizon line at the bottom of the field.  Move the binocular to the right, nearly two field diameters.  Mercury comes into view near the top of the field. Tomorrow, at this time interval, the planet is lower and dimmer.

Mercury is overtaking our planet, passing between Earth and Sun on April 11th.

Jupiter and Uranus

2024, March 31: Through a binocular, Jupiter and Uranus are in the same field of view.
Chart Caption – 2024, March 31: Through a binocular, Jupiter and Uranus are in the same field of view.

Jupiter is trekking eastward in front of Aries, to the upper left of Hamal, the Ram’s brightest star.  The Jovian Giant appears in the same binocular field with Uranus.  To find the more-distant world, place Jupiter toward the bottom of the field.  The star Rho Arietis (ρ Ari on the chart) is inside a triangle made by three dimmer stars. The star Delta Arietis (δ Ari) is toward the top right.

With Jupiter near the bottom of the field, find bluish 53 Arietis (53 Ari), near the field’s center, and topaz 54 Arietis (54 Ari) that is about the same color as Delta.

Aquamarine Uranus, brighter than stars 53 and 54, is to the upper left of 53 and to the left of 54.  A telescope is needed to see the planet’s globe.

Jupiter sets over three hours after sunset and long before midnight.

Tomorrow morning, the moon rises over four hours before sunrise.  Find it in the southern sky above the Teapot’s spout.

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