2024, May 29: Morning Planet-Moon Display

May 29, 2024: Before sunrise, Mars, Saturn and the gibbous moon are in the eastern sky along the imaginary arc of the ecliptic.

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.
Photo 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)

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:19 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:17 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 Planet-Moon Display

2024, May 29: Mars, Saturn, and Moon are in the eastern sky before sunrise.
Chart Caption – 2024, May 29: Mars, Saturn, and Moon are in the eastern sky before sunrise.

Before sunrise, Mars, Saturn, and the gibbous moon are lined up in the eastern sky.  They are nearly equally-spaced along the plane of the solar system, known as the ecliptic.  An hour before daybreak, the moon, 65% illuminated, is in the south-southeast.  It is approaching Saturn.

This morning, the Ringed Wonder is nearly 25° up in the southeast and almost 30° east (to the left) of the moon.  This yellow-orange planet is brighter than most stars in the sky this morning, but it is not exceptionally bright like Venus or Jupiter.

In two mornings, the moon appears close to Saturn in North America.  It occults or eclipses the planet for sky watchers in southern South America.

Mars is over 10° above the eastern horizon and over 30° to Saturn’s lower left.  The Red Planet marches eastward against the starry background, continuing to open a gap with Saturn.  It rises earlier each morning, now over two hours before daybreak.

Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter

Three planets, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter, are not easily visible.  Mercury is retreating into sunlight to pass behind the sun on June 14, 10 days after Venus’ solar conjunction.  Jupiter rises earlier each morning, emerging from sunlight into the eastern morning sky in about a month.

Evening Sky

Spica and Corvus

2024, May 29: Spica and Corvus are in the south after nightfall.
Chart Caption – 2024, May 29: Spica and Corvus are in the south after nightfall.

Without a bright solar system body visible during evening hours, several bright stars shine from spring’s evening sky.  An hour after sundown, Spica – Virgo’s brightest star – is less than halfway up in the south.

The star is near the ecliptic. The moon passes by each month and the planets are nearby on the regular cycles.  For example, a Mars-Spica conjunction occurs September 12, 2025, although it is veiled by bright evening twilight.  Slow-moving Saturn does not pass until January 12, 2041.

Corvus the Crow is to Spica’s lower right.  It is made by a lopsided box.  Its stars are about the brightness of those in the Big Dipper.  This pattern is visible in the southern sky until late summer when it disappears into evening twilight.

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