July 11, 2024: Planet Uranus is visible through a binocular with Mars before sunrise. Jupiter and Saturn are in the region. Mercury and Moon shine after sundown.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:26 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
Morning Planet
Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn are in the eastern sky during morning twilight. Saturn, rising before midnight, is less than halfway up in the south before sunrise, in front of a dim Aquarius’ starfield. The planet appears to retrograde, move westward compared to the distant stars, as our world overtakes it, passing between the Ringed Wonder and the sun on September 7th.
Track Saturn’s retrograde with a binocular. Its westward motion is within a single binocular field until it appears to reverse direction, resuming its eastward trek in November.
Jupiter, Mars
Unlike the dim Aquarius’ starfield, bright Jupiter and Mars are in the east with a bright sidereal background. An hour before sunrise, Jupiter, nearly 20° up in the east, is in front of Taurus, 4.8° to Aldebaran’s upper left.
Sky watchers in locales without perpetual outdoor lighting can spot the Hyades star cluster. With Aldebaran, the stellar congregation forms a sideways “V,” outlining the Bull’s head.
The Pleiades star cluster, resembling a miniature dipper, is higher in the sky. On celestial artwork the star bundle rides on the Bull’s back.
Mars is 8.5° to the upper right of the cluster. Marching eastward in front of Aries, the Red Planet steps in front of Taurus tomorrow morning, enroute to a conjunction with Jupiter on August 14th.
See Planet Uranus
Through a binocular, Mars and distant planet Uranus are in the same field of view. To find the more-distant world, resembling an aquamarine star, place Mars toward the upper right portion of the field of view – toward the two o’clock location. Dim Uranus is at the center of the field. Notice two stars, 13 Tauri (13 Tau on the chart) and 14 Tauri (14 Tau) to the lower left.
Through the binocular watch Mars approach and pass Uranus in four mornings, when the Red Planet first appears in the same binocular field with the Pleiades.
Uranus, Pleiades
Separately Uranus appears in the same field with the Pleiades star cluster. Note that 13 Tauri and 14 Tauri appear in both views. This morning, the Pleiades are to the left while Uranus is toward the right edge of the field.
Because Uranus moves so slowly against the distant starfield, it appears in the same binocular view with the Seven Sisters until Taurus disappears into bright evening twilight in the spring of 2027.
Evening Sky
Venus, Mercury
Venus slowly emerges from bright evening twilight. It sets 40 minutes after nightfall, about the time Mercury is visible above the west-northwest horizon through a binocular.
The evening planets’ visibilities are affected by the low tilt of the solar system’s plane makes with the western horizon and summer’s lengthened twilight periods.
Evening Crescent Moon
The crescent moon, 33% illuminated, is over 20° up in the west-southwest. At this phase, moonlight is bright enough to light up the ground and cast shadows. This might be the last evening to see earthshine, a gentle illumination of the lunar night from sunlight reflected from Earth’s features.
The moon’s place in the sky is 48° east of its location on the 7th, while its altitude has increased only 16°, further demonstrating the effects of the ecliptic’s low angle in the sky.
This evening, the moon is 2.4° to the left of Virgo’s star Zavijava, also known as Beta Virginis. Earlier today, the moon occulted or eclipsed the star from Africa and parts of South America. In two evenings, the moon occults Spica, Virgo’s brightest star, for sky watchers across North America.
This evening, Denebola, Leo’s tail, is nearly 15° to the moon’s upper right. Porrima, in Virgo, is nearly 11° to the upper left.
The moon sets over three hours after sunset, near midnight in the eastern slices of local time zones and after the new calendar day begins in the western reaches of the time dividers.
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