July 26, 2024: Orion the Hunter returns to the eastern morning sky before sunrise. Three bright planets – Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn – and the moon are visible before daybreak.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:39 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:15 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
Orion Returns
Orion the Hunter is returning to the predawn morning sky. The famous pattern is in the southern sky during winter evenings. After disappearing into western evening twilight, the stately star pattern returns before sunrise.
Here’s how you find it:
Look for Jupiter, the brightest starlike body in the sky this morning, about one-third of the way from the eastern horizon to overhead. The planet slowly moves in front of Taurus, 5.7° to Aldebaran’s upper left, the Bull’s brightest star.
Orion is below Jupiter and the Bull’s eye. Bellatrix, one of the shoulders, is less than 10° above the east cardinal direction. Betelgeuse, the Hunter’s other shoulder is over 7° to Bellatrix’s lower left. Orion’s knee, Rigel, is near its first morning appearance. Its blue tint may easily show through the reds and oranges of dawn’s early light. Use a binocular.
Orion’s three belt stars are between Betelgeuse and Rigel. Use a binocular to see them. Each morning the pattern is higher in the sky. Another brighter star, Saiph, marking the other knee makes its first morning appearance in about a week.
Mars
In addition to Jupiter, Mars is in the region. It marches eastward in front of the Bull, 9.5° to Jupiter’s upper right and 5.9° below the Pleiades star cluster, muted by this morning’s bright moonlight. Mars overtakes and passes Jupiter during mid-August.
Saturn and Moon
The moon is farther westward, over 50° up in the south-southeast and over 20° to Saturn’s upper left. The stars Fomalhaut and Deneb Kaitos are below Saturn and the moon.
Evening Sky
Mercury and Venus
Mercury is challenging to see after its recent evening appearance. Dimming as it overtakes our planet, the speedy world plunges into bright twilight. It passes between Earth and Sun on August 18th, moving into the eastern predawn sky for its best morning appearance, reaching greatest elongation on September 4th. On that morning, it is nearly 8° above the horizon at 45 minutes before sunrise.
Venus continues a slow entry in the western evening sky. While it is nearly 15° from the sun, it is only 2° above the horizon at 30 minutes after sundown. It is a little higher at month’s end.
Venus’ visibility suffers from a poorly inclined ecliptic with the western horizon, meaning the solar system’s plane makes a low angle with the horizon. Planets can appear far from the sun, but they are very low in the sky after sundown.
Saturn and Moon near Midnight
Saturn rises less than two hours after the sun. An hour later, it is over 10° above the east-southeast horizon. This is about the time of moonrise. As the midnight hour approaches for sky watchers in the eastern regions of western hemisphere time zones, the lunar orb, 60% illuminated, is less than 5° above the eastern horizon. This view occurs after the new calendar day begins in western regions of time dividers.
Tomorrow morning the moon, approaching its Last Quarter phase, is about midway from Saturn to Mars.
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