July 8, 2024: The evening crescent moon is in the western sky after sundown. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are easily visible before sunrise.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:24 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.
Here is today’s planet forecast:
Morning Sky
Three Morning Planets
The three bright outer planets – Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn – are along the arc of the ecliptic, the plane of the solar system, during morning twilight. Saturn rises three hours after sundown and before midnight in Chicago, standing at the eastern edge of the time zone, and over an hour later at the western extremes of the time regions. During morning twilight, it stands in the south-southeast. Not as bright as Jupiter or Venus, it outshines most stars this morning.
The Ringed Wonder stands in front of a dim Aquarius’ starfield. It retrogrades, appears to move westward, as our planet overtakes the distant world. Saturn’s retrograde fits into a single binocular field.
Mars and Jupiter
Mars rises considerably later, after midnight and over three hours before sunrise. Slightly brighter than Saturn, the Red Planet is nearly 30° up in the east during morning twilight. Marching eastward in front of Aries, it passed Saturn on April 10th, opening a gap that measures over 55°.
In four mornings, the Red Planet steps in front of Taurus, heading for a wide conjunction with the Pleiades star cluster on the 21st. It first appears with the cluster in the same binocular field in a week. Mars is heading toward Jupiter, passing by the Jovian Giant on August 14th.
This morning Jupiter rises over two hours before the sun. An hour later it is “that bright star” 15° above the east-northeast horizon. The planet is slowly moving eastward in front of the Bull. It is 4.8° to Aldebaran’s upper left, passing the star in a wide conjunction in two mornings.
During morning twilight, the planetary necklace stretches from the east-northeast to the southern sky. The three planets appear near the ecliptic. While Saturn is in front of a dim constellation, Taurus has bright stars that are easily visible without optical aid.
Evening Sky
Evening Crescent Moon
The crescent moon returns to the western evening sky for easy viewing. An hour after sundown, the moon, 10% illuminated, is 10° above the west-northwest horizon. It is nearly 7° to the lower right of Regulus, Leo’s brightest star.
While the moon is low at this hour, look for earthshine on the lunar orb. The effect is sunlight reflected from Earth’s features that softly lights up the lunar night. Use a tripod-mounted camera to capture the moon and earthshine with exposures up to a few seconds. Wide-angle photos capture the landscape with the moon and star.
Mercury
At this hour Mercury is a little above the west-northwest horizon. Thirty minutes earlier, the planet is nearly 8° up in the sky. In this brighter twilight, use a binocular to spot it. The lunar crescent is over 13° to the planet’s upper left and outside the same binocular field of view.
This evening the moon sets over two hours after the sun. Tomorrow it is to the upper left of Regulus.
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