2024, August 29:  Morning Moon with Gemini Twins

August 29, 2024: The morning crescent moon appears with the Gemini Twins before sunrise.  Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are visible during nighttime hours.

Venus and moon during morning twilight, August 16, 2020.
2020, August 16: The brilliant planet Venus is about 12° to the upper right of the crescent moon. Pollux is 6.6° to the left of the lunar crescent.

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:14 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:28 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

Morning Crescent Moon with Gemini Twins

Morning Moon with Gemini Twins
Chart Caption – 2024, August 29: The crescent moon is with Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Twins, before sunrise.

An hour before sunrise, the pretty crescent moon, 20% illuminated, is less than halfway up in the east near the Gemini Twins, Castor and Pollux.  The lunar crescent is 8.2° to the upper right of Castor and 9.3° to Pollux’s upper right.  The two stars are 4.5° apart.

Earthshine

A2019, January 31: Venus and the crescent moon up close. Notice the "earthshine" on the night portion of the moon.stronomy
2019, January 31: Venus and the crescent moon up close. Notice the “earthshine” on the night portion of the moon.

Earthshine, sunlight reflected from Earth’s features, gently brightens the lunar night.  This is visible to the unassisted eye and through a binocular or spotting scope.  Photograph the moon and Gemini Twins with a tripod-mounted camera and exposures up to a few seconds.

Jupiter and Mars

Bright Jupiter is over halfway up in the east-southeast, nearly 30° to the lunar crescent’s upper right.  The solar system’s largest world is brighter than all stars in the sky this morning.

The Jovian Giant plods eastward between Taurus’ horns.  It is 9.5° to Aldebaran’s lower left, the constellation’s brightest star.

Mars, about the brightness and color of Aldebaran, is 7.4° to Jupiter’s lower left.  Now east of the points of Taurus’ horns, Elnath and Zeta Tauri, it marches eastward, crossing into Gemini’s boundary on September 6th.

The Red Planet continues to widen the gap with Jupiter after their August 14th conjunction.

Saturn

2024, August 29: An hour before sunrise, Saturn is in the west-southwest.
Chart Caption – 2024, August 29: An hour before sunrise, Saturn is in the west-southwest.

Farther westward, Saturn is retrograding in front of a dim Aquarius starfield. As the brightest star in the region, the Ringed Wonder is less than 20° above the west-southwest horizon.

Mercury Begins to Appear

Morning Moon with Gemini Twins.
Chart Caption – 2024, August 29: At 45 minutes before sunrise, Mercury is low in the east below the crescent moon and the Gemini Twins.

Mercury speeds into the morning sky after its inferior conjunction less than two weeks ago.  Rising 72 minutes before the sun, the planet is less than 5° above the horizon about 30 minutes later. The moon and Gemini Twins are over 30° to the planet’s upper right. Mercury aficionados can find it through a binocular.  The planet is brighter than Castor, but lower in the sky in brighter twilight.

Evening Sky

Venus

2024, August 29: Venus is low in the western sky at 30 minutes after nightfall.
Chart Caption – 2024, August 29: Venus is low in the western sky at 30 minutes after nightfall.

Venus’ visibility continues to suffer from the low angle the solar system makes with the western horizon after sundown.  Setting nearly an hour after nightfall, the Evening Star is less than 5° above the western horizon, 30 minutes earlier. The planet is nearly 25° east of the sun, but the ecliptic’s poor presentation places Venus low in the sky shining through evening twilight.

Venus is noticeably setting farther south each night. It reaches its farthest southward setting point, west-southwest, on November 7th.  After two weeks setting at this direction, its setting point moves northward along the horizon. On January 28, 2025, the planet sets at the west cardinal direction again, nearly four hours after sundown.

Evening Saturn

2024, August 29: Two hours after sunset, Saturn is over 15° up in the eastern sky.
Chart Caption – 2024, August 29: Two hours after sunset, Saturn is over 15° up in the eastern sky.

Saturn, rising 26 minutes after sundown, is in the east-southeast about ninety minutes later.  Find it over 15° above the horizon. As Earth rotates during the night, Saturn is in the south after midnight and in the southwest before sunrise tomorrow.

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