2024, May 12: Crescent Moon-Pollux Conjunction

May 12, 2024: The crescent moon appears next to Pollux after sunset, a Moon-Pollux conjunction.  Two morning planets shine from the eastern sky before sunrise.

Venus and moon during morning twilight, August 16, 2020.
2020, August 16: The brilliant planet Venus is about 12° to the upper right of the crescent moon. Pollux is 6.6° to the left of the lunar crescent.

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:33 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:02 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

Saturn and Mars

2024, May 12: Mars and Saturn are in the eastern sky before sunrise.
Chart Caption – 2024, May 12: Mars and Saturn are in the eastern sky before sunrise.

During nighttime hours, Saturn and Mars are the only visible bright planets.  An hour before sunup, Saturn is about 15° above the east-southeast horizon.  It is not as bright as Venus or Jupiter, but it outshines most of the stars this morning. 

At this hour, Mars is less than 10° above the eastern horizon and over 20° to Saturn’s lower left.  The distant starfield lacks bright stars to assist in identifying the morning planets and the Red Planet and Ringed Wonder are too far away from each other to fit into the same binocular field of view.

Venus and Mercury

Venus is moving toward a conjunction with the sun on June 4th, followed by a wide swing into the western evening sky.

Mercury’s visibility suffers from a poorly placed solar system.  This has affected the visibility of Mars and greatly deflates Mercury’s place in the morning sky.  At 30 minutes before daybreak, it is just above the eastern horizon.

Evening Sky

Jupiter

Jupiter is east of the sun, setting 20 minutes after nightfall.  The planet loses four minutes of setting time each evening, appearing to pass behind the central star in about a week.  It reappears in the eastern morning sky before sunrise at about the date of the solstice.

Crescent Moon-Pollux Conjunction

Crescent Moon-Pollux Conjunction
Chart Caption – 2024, May 12: Tonight, the Moon is near Pollux.

An hour after sundown, the crescent moon, 27% illuminated, is nearly 45° up in the west, halfway from the horizon to overhead.  This evening it is 2.5° to the lower left of Pollux, a Gemini Twin.  The star Castor is to the right of Pollux.

Unlike other bright stars near the ecliptic, Pollux is too far north for the lunar orb to occult or eclipse it.  It is 6.7° above the solar system’s plane.  The moon and the planets pass south of the star.

The moon, January 15, 2021
Photo Caption – 2021, January 15: 2021, January 15: The thin waxing moon with earthshine, reflected sunlight from Earth’s features gently illuminates the lunar night.

Again, this evening, look for Earthshine.  This evening the moon gains brightness compared to last night.  Can you see your shadow from the moonlight?

The moon sets over five hours after sunset and after midnight.

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