2024, May 26: May’s Teapot Moon

May 26, 2024: Before sunrise, the moon appears to be in the Teapot, Sagittarius’ brightest stars.  Mars and Saturn are visible before sunrise.

Venus in Gemini, August 22, 2020
2020, August 22: Brilliant Venus shines from the eastern sky. It is 1.1° to the upper right of Zeta Geminorum (ζ Gem). Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Twins, are to the lower left.

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:21 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:15 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

May’s Teapot Moon

2024, May 26: The moon is in front of the Teapot of Sagittarius before sunrise.
Chart Caption – 2024, May 26: The moon is in front of the Teapot of Sagittarius before sunrise.

An hour before daybreak, the gibbous moon, 91% illuminated, is less than 20° above the south-southwest horizon.  It is in front of Sagittarius and appears to be in the Teapot, the modern moniker for the Archer’s brightest stars.

Use a binocular to see the shape of the pot surrounding the lunar orb as the moonlight nearly overwhelms the dimmer stars.

Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus

2024, May 26: Mars and Saturn are in the eastern sky before sunrise.
Chart Caption – 2024, May 26: Mars and Saturn are in the eastern sky before sunrise.

Farther eastward at this hour, Saturn is over 20° above the east-southeast horizon. Rising over three hours before sunrise, the Ringed Wonder is easier to see.  It gains three to four minutes of rising time each morning.  By mid-June, it rises over four hours before daybreak and it is higher in the southeastern sky than this morning.

The planet appears as a bright yellow-orange star.  It is not dazzling like Venus or Jupiter, but it outshines most stars this morning.

Mars is over 10° above the eastern horizon, over 30° to Saturn’s lower left.  Mars passed the Ringed Wonder on April 10th.  It does not catch Saturn again until April 20, 2026, but the conjunction occurs near the sun.

After a disappointing morning appearance, Mercury retreats into morning twilight.  It rises less than 50 minutes before the sun and appears low in the eastern sky during bright twilight, essentially unobservable.

Jupiter, after its conjunction with Venus a few days ago, is slowly climbing into the morning sky.  It is veiled in bright twilight.  It is visible before sunrise later next month.

Similarly, Venus is not visible.  It reaches its solar conjunction early next month.

Evening Sky

Evening Stars

2024, May 26: Procyon, Pollux, Castor and Capella are in the western sky after sundown.
Chart Caption – 2024, May 26: Procyon, Pollux, Castor and Capella are in the western sky after sundown.

With the five bright planets and the moon west of the sun, the evening sky is without a bright solar system body.

Four bright stars – Procyon, Pollux, Castor, and Capella – are in the western sky during the early evening hours.  Procyon, the Little Dog Star, is about 15° up in the west.  Pollux and Castor, the Gemini Twins, are about one-third of the way from the horizon to overhead in the west-northwest.  Capella is in the northwest, slightly higher than Procyon’s height above the horizon.

Capella is making its first morning appearance in the north-northeast before sunrise.  As the day proceeds, the star moves westward from Earth’s rotation.  By nightfall it is in the northwest, setting after midnight and rising again during morning twilight.

Tomorrow morning, the moon is in the southern sky.

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