June 13, 2024: Mercury is at perihelion. After sundown, the nearly half-full moon is in the southwest under the Lion’s tail. Find Mars and Saturn in the eastern sky before sunrise.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:15 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:27 p.m. CDT. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
The summer solstice occurs in a week at 3:51 p.m. Central Time.
Mercury at Perihelion
Today, Mercury is at perihelion, when it is nearest the sun. The planet races around the central star every 88 days on the most eccentric orbit of the eight planets in the modern solar system model. Like other bodies that revolve around stars, it moves fastest when nearest the sun and slowest when it is farthest away.
From Earth, the planet is always near the sun as it seems to shuttle from the morning sky to evening and back into the eastern sky before sunrise. Its visibility is affected by Earth’s tilt. Spring evenings and autumn mornings are the best times to see the planet when Mercury stands over 10° above the horizon during morning twilight.
Here is today’s planet forecast:
Morning Sky
Mars and Saturn
Mars and Saturn are visible before sunup in the eastern sky. They are not as bright as might be expected, not prominent like Venus and Jupiter. Saturn is easier to see, over 30° above the southeast horizon. The yellow-orange planet is brighter than most stars this morning. Compare the planet’s brightness to Fomalhaut, nearly 25° to the planet’s lower right.
Mars is over 15° above the eastern horizon and nearly 45° to Saturn’s lower left. The Red Planet widens a gap to the Ringed Wonder each morning.
Marching eastward in front of Aries, Mars is over 12° to the lower right of Hamal, the Ram’s brightest star.
Mercury and Jupiter
Mercury is not visible. It is one day from passing behind the sun and joining Venus east of the central star when the planets appear in the western sky after sundown.
In comparison, Jupiter slowly enters the morning sky. This morning it rises 64 minutes before sunrise. At 30 minutes before daybreak, it is over 5° above the east-northeast horizon. A binocular is needed at this time interval before sunrise.
Jupiter makes its first morning appearance in the darker sky in about a week.
Evening Sky
Venus
Venus is near the sun, setting only 11 minutes after the central star.
Moon under Lion’s Tail
An hour after nightfall, the nearly half-full moon is less than 45° up in the west-southwest. It is over 10° to the lower left of Denebola, the Lion’s tail.
The moon is at the First Quarter phase tomorrow at 12:18 a.m. Central Time.
Leo is westward-facing, seen in silhouette. The pattern is made by a backwards question mark shape, known as “The Sickle of Leo,” and a triangle marking the haunches and tail.
After the moon sets tomorrow morning in the Americas, the lunar orb occults or eclipses the star Zavijava, also known as Beta Virginis, from eastern Asia.
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