July 30, 2024: A Mars-Moon conjunction occurs in the eastern sky before sunrise. This is visible near Jupiter and in front of Taurus’ rich starfield.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:43 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 8:10 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
Mars-Moon Conjunction
This morning step outside an hour before sunrise and look eastward. The crescent moon, 25% illuminated, is less than halfway up in the eastern sky and 8.0° to bright Jupiter’s upper right. Look closely for Mars, 4.5° to the moon’s lower right.
Do not confuse Mars with Aldebaran, Taurus’ brightest star, 9.6° to the lunar crescent’s lower right and 6.2° to Jupiter’s lower right.
Earthshine
Through a binocular, Mars and the lunar crescent fit into the same field of view.
Look for earthshine on the moon’s night portion. The effect is from reflected sunlight that softly lights the lunar night.
Move the binocular slightly so that Mars is at the top of the field of view. The planet fits into the same field with Aldebaran and the Hyades star cluster, together making the “V” of the Bull’s head.
As Mars marches eastward, it passes brighter stars in the cluster. On August 2nd, it passes Epsilon Tauri (ε Tau on the chart) and Aldebaran two mornings later.
Mars is overtaking Jupiter. Their conjunction occurs on August 14th.
With the binocular look at the Pleiades star cluster, a tiny dipper of stars on Taurus’ back. A few dozen stars are visible.
Orion Rising
Below the bright morning planet display, Orion continues to climb into the eastern morning sky. The stars Bellatrix, Betelgeuse, and Rigel are easy to see. Use the binocular to see its belt stars. The stellar trio easily fits into the same field.
Morning Saturn
A third planet, Saturn, is in the southern sky at this hour. Dimmer than Jupiter and Mars, the Ringed Wonder is less than halfway up in the south-southwest. It is in front of dim Aquarius, although, Fomalhaut, in a neighboring constellation, is about halfway from Saturn to the horizon.
The planet is retrograding, the illusion that it is moving westward against the starfield. Follow its motion through a binocular during the next few months.
Saturn reaches opposition, when Earth is between the planet and Sun, on September 7th. Tonight, the Ringed Wonder appears before sunrise and later during the evening. Rising less than two hours after sundown, it slowly appears to move westward during the night. By morning twilight, it is in the south-southwestern sky.
At opposition a planet rises at sunset, appears above the south direction at midnight – an hour later when daylight time is used- and sets in the western sky at sunrise.
Evening Sky
Mercury and Venus
Mercury and Venus are washed out by bright evening twilight. Mercury is overtaking Earth, passing between our world and the sun next month. Then it has a nice morning appearance during September.
Venus appears to struggle into the western sky as an Evening Star. While not as slow as Mars’ recent emergence from bright morning twilight, Venus is nearing its first evening appearance.
Evening Saturn
As noted earlier, Saturn rises less than two hours after sundown. An hour later, Saturn is nearly 15° above the east-southeast horizon, appearing farther westward during the night.
Tomorrow morning, the moon is east of Jupiter and near Elnath, the Bull’s northern horn.
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