2024, July 20: Orion’s Return Begins

July 20, 2024: Bellatrix’s first morning appearance signals Orion’s return to the eastern predawn sky.  The Full (Buck) moon shines all night.

Venus and the stars during morning twilight, September 5, 2020
Photo Caption – 2020, September 5: Morning Star Venus appears during twilight with Sirius, Procyon, Orion, and Gemini.

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:33 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:21 p.m. CDT.  Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.

Apollo 11 Plus 55 Years

July 20, 1969, Humans walk on the moon (NASA Photo)
Photo Caption – July 20, 1969, Humans walk on the moon (NASA Photo)

Today is the 55th anniversary of humans’ first moon walk.

“Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

Here is today’s planet forecast:

Morning Sky

Orion’s Return

Orion Returns
Chart Caption – 2024, July 20: Orion’s Bellatrix is making its first morning appearance below Jupiter. Mars is to Jupiter’s upper right, near the Pleiades.

Orion’s shoulder, Bellatrix, marks the return of the Hunter into the morning sky.  During the next several weeks, the pattern becomes fully visible before sunrise, preceding the return of Sirius.

At one hour before daybreak, Bellatrix, meaning “the female warrior,” is over 6° above the eastern horizon and over 18° to bright Jupiter’s lower right. Its blue-white color indicates a very high temperature, even hotter than Sirius.  Shining from a distance of 250 light years with an intensity of over 1,000 suns, it appears as the 18th brightest star for sky watchers at the mid-northern latitudes.

In less than a week, Betelgeuse first appears, followed a few days later by Rigel.  Afterward a binocular is helpful to find the belt stars near the eastern horizon. By month’s end, most of Orion hangs above the eastern horizon at this time interval before sunrise.

Morning Planets: Jupiter and Mars

Above Orion’s reappearance, bright Jupiter is plodding eastward in front of Taurus, 5.2° to Aldebaran’s upper left.

Dimmer Mars, 12.5° to Jupiter’s upper right and over 30° above the east horizon, is slowly passing the Pleiades star cluster, 4.8° to its upper left.  Tomorrow morning it widely passes Alcyone, the brightest Pleiad.

2024, July 15-22: Mars, Uranus and the Pleiades appear in the same binocular field.
Chart Caption – 2024, July 15-22: Mars, Uranus and the Pleiades appear in the same binocular field.

Through a binocular, Mars, Uranus, and the Pleiades are visible in the same field of view.  Planet Uranus, resembling a dim aquamarine star, is 3.2° to Mars’ upper right.  The slow-moving planet is in the same binocular field as the Pleiades until 2027.

Morning Planet Saturn

Saturn
Chart Caption – 2024, July 20: During morning twilight Saturn is in the south above Deneb Kaitos and Fomalhaut.

Saturn is the third bright planet in this morning’s sky.  Rising over two hours after the sun, Saturn is in the south during morning twilight.  It is slowly retrograding in front of Aquarius. 

Use a binocular to watch the planet move against the starry background.

While the Ringed Wonder is in front of a faint background, bright Deneb Kaitos and Fomalhaut, part of neighboring constellations, are below the planet.

Evening Sky

Venus

Venus continues a slow entrance into the western sky after sundown as the Evening Star.  It sets 45 minutes after the sun, lost in the sun’s glare.

Mercury and Regulus

Mercury Regulus
Chart Caption – 2024, July 20: Mercury and Regulus are in the western sky during bright evening twilight.

As Venus sets, Mercury is less than 7° up in the west and 4.6° to Regulus’ lower right.  Their view is challenging through a binocular as Mercury dims. Scan slowly along the western horizon.  The two bodies appear in the same field of view.

Buck Moon
Chart Caption – 2024, July 20: Three hours after sundown, Saturn is over 50° east of the moon.

On this night of the Full moon, the lunar orb is low in the southeast during morning twilight.  The moon is opposite the sun at 5:17 a.m. Central Time, near sunrise.

The Buck moon is this month’s bright moon.  By three hours after sundown, it is over 50° west or right of Saturn. The bright globe is in the southern sky around midnight and in the southwest during morning twilight.

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