2024, August 28: Morning Lunar Earthshine

August 28, 2024: Before sunrise, earthshine is visible on the lunar crescent.  It is near Jupiter and Mars.  Saturn and Venus are visible during nighttime hours.

2023, October 10: The crescent moon with earthshine
Photo Caption – 2023, October 10: The crescent moon with earthshine

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:13 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:30 p.m. CDT.  Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.

Morning Sky

Moon and Morning Planets

Morning Lunar Earthshine
Chart Caption – 2024, August 28: Jupiter, Mars, and the crescent moon are in the eastern sky before sunrise.

An hour before sunrise, the crescent moon, 28% illuminated, is over halfway up in the east.  It is near Propus, a star on Castor’s foot. 

The moon, Jupiter, and Mars are nearly in a line extending 14.0°.  The lunar crescent is to Jupiter’s lower left, while 7.7° to Mars’ lower left.

Morning Lunar Earthshine

Crescent moon and Venus
Photo Caption – Venus and the crescent moon. Notice the “earthshine” on the night portion of the moon.

The moon shows earthshine, sunlight reflecting from Earth’s features, that gently illuminates the lunar night.  This effect is visible without any optical assistance, but it is pretty through a binocular.

Morning Lunar Earthshine
Chart Caption – 2024, August 28: Through a binocular, the moon appears with the star cluster Messier 35 (M 35).

Through the binocular look for the star cluster Messier 35 (M 35 on the chart), 4.1° to the lunar orb’s lower right.  While not as bright as the Pleiades and Hyades clusters, part of neighboring Taurus, this star cluster is near Propus and lies in the middle of the Milky Way.

Without outdoor lighting, the star cluster is visible without optical assistance.  With a few blue stars, like the Pleiades, it appears about the size of the Full moon. Through photographs 120 stars have been counted.  The stellar bundle is 2,800 light years away, about two-thirds of the Pleiades distance.

Jupiter and Mars

Jupiter is 9.7° to the lower right of Aldebaran, Taurus’ brightest star. It plods eastward between the Bull’s horns, Elnath and Zeta Tauri.

Mars is now east of an imaginary line between the two horns.  It marches eastward, crossing the Taurus-Gemini boundary on September 6th.

Morning Saturn

2024, August 28: During morning twilight, Saturn is in the west-southwest.
Chart Caption – 2024, August 28: During morning twilight, Saturn is in the west-southwest.

At this hour, Saturn, the brightest star in the region, is in front of a dim Aquarius starfield.  It is retrograding as opposition nears.  Through a telescope, the planet’s rings are only slightly tilted and appear almost as a line.

Evening Sky

Venus

2024, August 28: During bright evening twilight, Venus is low in the western sky.
Chart Caption – 2024, August 28: During bright evening twilight, Venus is low in the western sky.

Venus is slowly entering the western sky after sundown, shining through evening twilight.  At 30 minutes after nightfall, the Evening star is nearly 5° above the horizon.  The planet is about the same altitude for the next week or so, but noticeably farther southward along the horizon.

Saturn

2024, August 28: Two hours after sunset, Saturn is 15° up in the east-southeast.
Chart Caption – 2024, August 28: Two hours after sunset, Saturn is 15° up in the east-southeast.

Saturn rises only 28 minutes after the sun sets.  By two hours after sundown, the Ringed Wonder is over 15° above the east-southeast horizon.  It is south after midnight and nearly five hours before tomorrow’s sunrise.  During morning twilight, the planet is again in the west-southwest.

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