June 11, 2024: The crescent moon is with Leo in the western sky after sundown. Mars and Saturn are in the eastern sky before daybreak.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:15 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:26 p.m. CDT. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
Here is today’s planet forecast:
Morning Sky
Morning Planets
Four bright planets are west of the sun, meaning they rise in the eastern sky before the central star. Two of them are easily visible, while the others are veiled in bright sunlight.
Mercury, the solar system’s fastest planet, reaches solar conjunction on the sun’s far side in three days. Then it rapidly moves into the eastern sky for a disappointing apparition next month.
Jupiter rises earlier each morning and makes its first appearance in less than two weeks.
Mars and Saturn
Mars rises nearly 2 hours, 30 minutes before daybreak and before the beginning of morning twilight. Ninety minutes later, the Red Planet is over 15° above the east horizon. It marches eastward in front of Aries, less than 13° from Hamal, the Ram’s brightest star.
On April 10th, Mars passed Saturn in a close conjunction. It marches eastward faster than Saturn and opened a gap that is nearly 45° wide this morning.
The Ringed Wonder is the easiest of the morning planets to see. Not as bright as we might expect, it is 30° above the southeast horizon. It is reaching an altitude above the air’s blurring and dimming effects so that telescopic views are possible.
Evening Sky
Venus
After its solar conjunction a week ago, Venus slowly makes its way into the evening sky. Now west of the sun and promising a spectacular apparition as the Evening Star, the planet sets less than 10 minutes after the sun.
Evening Moon with Leo
At this season, Leo’s stars are tilted downward in the western sky. A half-dozen stars outline the Lion’s head, making the shape of a backwards question mark with the bright star Regulus at the shape’s bottom. The figure is known as the “Sickle of Leo,” representing an agricultural cutting tool. We see the westward-facing animal in silhouette.
To the sickle’s upper left, Leo’s haunches and tail are dotted by a triangle, with the tail, Denebola, at the eastern-most edge of the pattern.
An hour after sundown, the crescent moon, 30% illuminated is in the western sky, 3.2° to Regulus’ upper right. The lunar crescent still shows earthshine and it is bright enough to slightly illuminate terrestrial features casting shadows. With the moonlight, a binocular might be needed to trace the shape.
Next month, when the moon moves through this region of the sky, its phase is only 16% illuminated and the pattern is closer to the western horizon after sundown.
Tonight, the moon sets over four hours after sundown and after midnight.
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