2024, June 14: Mercury at Superior Conjunction

June 14, 2024: Mercury is at superior conjunction.  Mars and Saturn are visible before sunrise.  The moon is near Virgo’s Porrima.

2024, June 14: Mercury is at superior conjunction, with the sun between Earth and the planet.
Chart Caption – 2024, June 14: Mercury is at superior conjunction, with the sun between Earth and the planet.

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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.

Mercury at Superior Conjunction

Mercury as Never Seen Before
Photo Caption – Mercury as Never Seen Before. (NASA photo)

Mercury is at superior conjunction on the sun’s far side.  The sun is between Earth and the speedy world, making easy visual observations impossible.  The planet zips around the sun every 88 days, overtaking Earth every 116 days.

Mercury quickly speeds into the evening sky for a disappointing apparition for northern hemisphere sky watchers.  It reaches greatest elongation or its largest separation from the sun on July 22nd, setting 69 minutes after the sun, during mid-twilight.

Inferior conjunction occurs on August 18th.  Then the planet enters the morning sky for its best morning appearance of the year.

Here is today’s planet forecast:

Morning Sky

Morning Planets

2024, June 14: Mars and Saturn are in the eastern sky before sunrise.
Chart Caption – 2024, June 14: Mars and Saturn are in the eastern sky before sunrise.

Three bright planets are west of the sun, meaning they rise after midnight and before sunrise.  Saturn rises earliest, over four hours before daybreak. 

Three hours later, during morning twilight, the Ringed Wonder is over 30° above the southeast horizon.  Not as bright as Venus or Jupiter, it is brighter than most stars this morning.  Compare its brightness to Fomalhaut, the 13th brightest star for northern hemisphere’s sky watchers, nearly 25° to the planet’s lower right.

Saturn’s rings are spectacular through a telescope along with its larger, brighter moons.

Mars, slightly brighter than the more-distant planet, rises about 90 minutes after Saturn.  An hour before sunrise, it is over 15° up in the east. Since their conjunction on April 10th, it has opened a wide gap to Saturn.  This morning the separation is about 45°.

Marching eastward in front of Aries, Mars is less than 12° to the lower right of Hamal, the constellation’s brightest star.

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)

Through a telescope, Mars is disappointing. It appears as a small pumpkin-colored globe that is likely blurred by its low altitude, where Earth’s atmosphere seems to smear the planet’s image.

Jupiter rises 67 minutes before the sun, gaining about four minutes of rising time each morning.  The Jovian Giant is over 5° above the east-northeast horizon thirty minutes later.  In about a week, it makes its first morning appearance in a darker sky.

Evening Sky

Venus

After its superior conjunction 10 days ago, Venus slowly makes its way toward an evening appearance.  The planet is bathed in bright evening twilight as it sets 13 minutes after the sun.

Evening Gibbous Moon Nears Porrima

Moon approaches Porrima
Chart Caption – 2024, June 14: Use a binocular to see Virgo’s stars, Porrima and Zavijava, with the slightly gibbous moon.

An hour after sundown, the slightly gibbous moon, 58% illuminated, is less than halfway up in the southwest and in front of Virgo.  Earlier today, the lunar orb occulted or eclipsed the star Zavijava from eastern Asia.  In the Americas, the moon is 6.5° to the star’s left.  In this moonlight, use a binocular to see the star.

Similarly, use a binocular to see Porrima, also known as Gamma Virginis, 7.0° to the moon’s upper left.

Tonight, the moon sets after midnight and five hours after sunset.

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