2024, July 24: Moon Greets Saturn

July 24, 2024: The moon passes Saturn today.  Three bright planets are visible in the eastern sky before sunrise.

The moon with Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars, May 13, 2020
Photo Caption – 2020: May 13: The gibbous moon appears 8.7° to the lower left of Saturn. The Jupiter – Saturn gap is 4.7°.

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:37 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:17 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

Saturn and Moon before Sunrise

Saturn and Moon
Chart Caption – 2024, July 24: An hour before sunrise, the moon nears Saturn in the southern sky.

With the moon rising later each night after sunset, it appears in the south-southwest before sunrise.  This morning at one hour before sunup, the lunar orb, 88% illuminated, is over 35° above the horizon and over 7° to Saturn’s lower right.

The moon sets over four hours after daybreak, moving eastward in its celestial orbit.  During the day, the moon passes Saturn while it is below the horizon for sky watchers in the Americas.  For those in eastern Asia, the moon occults or eclipses the planet.  After sunset tonight, when Saturn and the moon rise, the gibbous moon is east of the Ringed Wonder for sky watchers in the western hemisphere.

Jupiter and Mars

Farther eastward, bright Jupiter and Mars are in front of Taurus, above the east horizon.  Jupiter plods eastward, nearly 30° up and 5.6° to Aldebaran’s upper left, the Bull’s brightest star.

Jupiter is the brightest starlike body in the sky this morning, easily outshining all other stars.

Mars, marching eastward toward a conjunction with Jupiter next month, is 35° above the horizon and 10.5° to Jupiter’s upper right.  It is 5.2° to the lower left of the Pleiades star cluster.  They are visible together in the same binocular field of view, although the scene is muted by the bright moonlight.

Orion

Orion continues its slow climb into the morning sky.  The Hunter’s shoulders, Bellatrix and Betelgeuse, are above the east horizon.  Betelgeuse is at its first morning appearance or heliacal rising, standing over 5° above the horizon and 7.5° to Bellatrix’s lower left.

In a few mornings Orion’s belt stars are easily visible through a binocular.

Farther northward along the horizon, Castor, one of the Gemini Twins as also at its heliacal rising.  Its Twin, Pollux, soon joins the view.

Evening Sky

Inner Planets

The two inner planets, Mercury and Venus, are hiding in bright evening twilight.  Mercury has not been visible to the unaided eye during this appearance, but has been high enough in bright twilight to see through a binocular.  This evening, the speedy planet sets 65 minutes after nightfall.

In comparison, Venus is making a slow entry into the evening sky after its solar conjunction on June 4th.  The planet sets 46 minutes after the sun.

Saturn and Moon before Midnight

Saturn and Moon
Chart Caption – 2024, July 24: Near the midnight hour, the gibbous moon is to Saturn’s lower left.

The moon rises nearly three hours after sundown, about 10 minutes after Saturn.  Around midnight, the pair is less than 15° above the east-southeast horizon.  Since this morning, the moon passed Saturn and appears over 5° to the Ring Wonder’s lower left.

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