June 2, 2024: Only Mars and Saturn are visible before sunrise. There is no planet parade for easy viewing. Look for earthshine on the morning moon.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:17 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:21 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
No Morning Planet Parade
With the five bright planets west of the sun, only two of them are easily visible, along with the crescent moon. The popular press is noting that all of them are visible before sunrise, along with Uranus and Neptune. There is no parade of all the bright planets before sunrise.
At the mid-northern latitudes, morning twilight lasts over two hours. The optimal time for seeing the bright planets during morning’s light is during mid-twilight, about one hour before daybreak.
At Chicago’s latitude, Venus rises about a minute before the sun, Jupiter, 31 minutes; Mercury, 40 minutes; and Uranus, 58 minutes. All are not visible at the optimal time. The sky is too bright when Mercury and Jupiter are high enough for easy visibility. Venus appears next to the sun.
In comparison, dim Neptune, rises nearly three hours before sunrise. When twilight begins, it is over 10° above the horizon and the same distance to Saturn’s lower left. It is not easily visible in the predawn light.
From south of the equator, Mercury, 5° above the east-northeast horizon, joins Mars, Saturn and the lunar crescent at mid-twilight, 45 minutes before daybreak during late autumn. Uranus is slightly higher, but it is washed out by twilight, even through a binocular. Jupiter is visible about twenty minutes before sunrise, but all the other planets are in a bright sky. Forget Venus for sky watchers at all latitudes.
Look for Mars, Saturn, and Crescent Moon
In reality, here’s what is easily visible before sunrise for sky watchers at the mid-northern latitudes:
An hour before daybreak, the crescent moon, 21% illuminated, is over 15° above the eastern horizon. The moon reaches the New moon phase at 7:38 a.m. Central Time in four mornings.
Earthshine
This morning notice earthshine on the moon’s night portion between the cusps or lunar horns. This can be seen without a binocular’s optical assist, although the view is delightful through the device.
Photograph earthshine with a tripod-mounted camera and exposures up to a few seconds.
A Binocular View: Mars, Moon
Mars is 6.8° to the moon’s lower left and it fits tightly in the same binocular field with the entire lunar orb.
The Red Planet marches eastward against the distant starfield that is washed out by morning’s light. It is over 35° to Saturn’s lower left. The gap widens each morning as Mars moves faster eastward than Saturn.
Saturn
The Ringed Wonder appears as a yellow-orange star, over 25° above the southeast horizon. Each morning the planet rises earlier and it is noticeably higher and farther toward the south from week to week.
Tomorrow morning, the moon is to Mars’ lower left and again both fit tightly into the same binocular field of view.
Evening Sky
Antares in Southeast
After sundown, the Scorpion reaches across the southeastern horizon. One hour after sundown, the constellation’s brightest star, rosy Antares, meaning “the rival of Mars,” is less than 10° above the southeast horizon. Now rising a few minutes after sunset, it is in the sky nearly all night. The constellation does not fully appear until nearly midnight.
Earlier in the evening, Dschubba, the forehead or crown, is over 15° above the horizon and nearly 8° to Antares’ upper left. The claws, Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali, are less than 20° to the upper right.
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