July 28, 2024: Three bright outer planets, Moon, and famous stars are visible before daybreak. Mercury and Venus are veiled in bright evening twilight.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:40 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:14 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
Look Eastward before Sunrise
Three bright outer planets – Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn – are visible before daybreak.
An hour before sunrise, the eastern sky has a thick crescent moon, two bright planets and several bright stars.
The thick crescent moon, 47% illuminated, is over halfway up in the sky. Not yet thin enough to display earthshine easily, the lunar orb is nearly 30° to bright Jupiter’s upper right.
Outshining all the stars in the sky this morning, the Jovian Giant is 30° up in the east. Jupiter plods eastward in front of Taurus, 5.6° to Aldebaran’s upper left, the figure’s brightest star. It is over 10° to the upper right of the Bull’s horns, Elnath and Zeta Tauri.
Do not confuse Jupiter with bright Capella, less than halfway up in the east-northeast. It is the fourth brightest star visible from the mid-northern latitudes, but noticeably dimmer than Jupiter.
Mars, 8.4° to Jupiter’s upper right, is overtaking the more-distant world. The Jupiter-Mars conjunction occurs August 14th. This morning the Red Planet appears to be passing between the Pleiades star cluster, 6.7° above the planet, and Aldebaran.
Orion Returning
Along the horizon below the two bright planets, Orion is slowly climbing into the morning sky. Three of the four bright stars that identify the Hunters knees and shoulders are visible. Use a binocular to see the three belt stars.
Farther northward, the Gemini Twins, Castor and Pollux, are returning to the predawn sky in the northeast after their solar conjunction. Use a binocular to see Pollux, not yet high enough for easy visibility.
Saturn
The third bright outer planet, Saturn, is farther westward, about halfway up in the south-southwest in front of a dim Aquarius starfield, affected by the moonlight. From Earth overtaking the Ringed Wonder, it is slowly retrograding in front of the stars.
The star Fomalhaut, in neighboring Picis Austrinus, is nearly 25° below the planet.
Evening Sky
Mercury and Venus
Mercury and Venus are considered evening planets, but they are veiled by bright evening twilight. The innermost planet is quickly overtaking Earth, passing between our planet and the sun on August 18th, moving into the eastern morning sky during September.
Venus is slowly emerging from bright sunlight. In three evenings attempt to see the planet at 30 minutes after sundown low in the western sky.
Saturn
Saturn rises less than two hours after sunset. An hour later it is low in the east-southeast.
The moon rises after midnight. Tomorrow morning it is near the Pleiades.
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