2024: During July, August, and September, bright Jupiter and Mars move eastward in front of Taurus’ distant stars.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Jupiter and Mars in Taurus
Step outside before daybreak. Bright Jupiter shines from the eastern sky. It is the brightest starlike body in the sky during the predawn hours.
The accompanying chart shows the planets’ eastward treks in front of Taurus’ distant stars. The bodies are charted compared to the ecliptic, the solar system’s plane. To orient it toward the sky, tip the right edge upward at approximately a 45°-angle for sky watchers at the mid-northern latitudes.
The chart displays Jupiter’s positions from July 1st through September 28th, while Mars’ positions are plotted July 18th through September 24th. Jupiter moves eastward at 0.1° each day, while Mars moves over six times that distance, overtaking the Jovian Giant on August 14th.
Taurus features two star clusters, one bright star, and several notable stars that form the stellar background. An exploded star, known as the Crab Nebula is along Mars’ trek.
Capture the planets in photographs with a tripod-mounted camera and exposures up to 30 seconds to capture the stellar background.
Here’s what to look for:
July
July 10: Jupiter passes 4.8° to Aldebaran’s upper left, Taurus’ brightest star. Use a binocular to see the planet, the star, and the Hyades star cluster.
July 21: Mars passes 4.8° from the Pleiades. Mars, Uranus, and the star cluster are in the same starfield. A Jupiter-Tau (τ) Tauri conjunction occurs. The separation is 1.4°.
July 26: The Red Planet passes 1.9° from 37 Tauri. Use a binocular to see the star.
July 29: Mars passes 5.1° from Gamma (γ) Tauri, part of the Hyades star cluster.
August
August 2: Mars passes 2.0° from Epsilon (ε) Tauri, opposite Aldebaran in the “V” of Taurus. Upsilon (υ) Tauri and Kappa (κ) Tauri are nearby.
August 4: Mars passes 4.9° from Aldebaran.
August 8: A Mars-Tau (τ) Tauri conjunction occurs. The separation is 1.2°.
August 14: A Jupiter-Mars conjunction occurs. The gap between them is 0.3°. They fit into the field of a telescope’s low-power eyepiece. While they appear close, Jupiter is nearly 500 million miles away and Mars is over 140 million miles.
August 24: Mars passes 5.6° from Elnath (β Tauri), the Bull’s northern horn.
August 27: A Mars-Zeta (ζ) Tauri conjunction. The gap is 2.0°.
September
Mars continues to move eastward and leaves the chart on September 24th. Jupiter slows during the month as seen in the planet’s spacing on the graph toward September 28. It begins to retrograde during October.
Watch this slow planet race before sunrise.
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