2024, September 25:  Morning Mars-Moon Conjunction

September 25, 2024: Before sunrise, the moon appears near Mars, a Mars-Moon conjunction.  Jupiter is to the upper right of the scene.  Venus and Saturn are visible after nightfall.

2022, August 19: Mars, the moon, and Pleiades,
Photo Caption – 2022, August 19: Mars, the moon, and Pleiades,

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:42 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 6:42 p.m. CDT.  Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.

Equal Daylight/Darkness

Harvest
Harvest (Photo by Johannes)

Today, daylight and nighttime are equal at 12 hours each. Many have the perception that this occurs on the date of the equinox.  In a sense it does, but not according to definitions of sunrise and sunset.  At Chicago’s latitude, daylight loses two hours by Halloween.

Four Bright Planets Nightly

Venus clouds from the Hubble Space Telescope. The planet shows phases. (NASA photo)
Chart Caption – Venus clouds from the Hubble Space Telescope. The planet shows phases. (NASA photo)

A parade of four bright planets is visible during the night.  Brilliant Venus shines from low in the west-southwest after nightfall.  At thirty minutes after sunset, the Evening Star is over 6° above the horizon. 

Saturn
Image Caption – This NASA Hubble Space Telescope photo of Saturn reveals the planet’s cloud bands and a phenomenon called ring spokes.

Ten minutes later, look for Saturn in the east-southeast.  Find a spot with clear horizons toward Venus and Saturn.  They are visible simultaneously, but do not wait too long.  Venus sets 67 minutes after the sun.

During the night Saturn treks westward, from Earth’s rotation. It sets over an hour before sunrise, although it disappears behind the air’s filtering effects about 30 minute earlier.

Jupiter Close up from Hubble Space Telescope
Photo Caption – This Hubble Space Telescope view of Jupiter, taken on June 27, 2019, reveals the giant planet’s trademark Great Red Spot, and a more intense color palette in the clouds swirling in Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere than seen in previous years. The colors, and their changes, provide important clues to ongoing processes in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

Jupiter rises in the east-northeast around four hours after sundown, followed by Mars nearly an hour later.  As morning twilight begins Jupiter and Mars are high in the southeastern sky.

Mercury as Never Seen Before
Photo Caption – Mercury as Never Seen Before. (NASA photo)

The fifth bright planet, Mercury, is immersed in bright morning twilight and not practically visible.  It rises only 24 minutes before the sun.

Here is today’s sky watching highlight:

Mars-Moon Conjunction

Mars-Moon Conjunction
Chart Caption – 2024, September 25: Before sunrise, see the Mars-Moon conjunction. Jupiter is to the upper left.

An hour before sunrise, the thick crescent moon, 43% illuminated, is high in the east-southeast.  The phase is still large enough to illuminate the landscape and cast shadows.

This morning the moon is in front of Gemini, over 10° to the upper right of Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Twins.  Look 4.7° to the moon’s lower right for Mars.  This is a Mars-Moon conjunction.

Bright Jupiter plods eastward in front of Taurus, 21° to the moon’s upper right and 6.4° to Elnath’s lower right, the Bull’s northern horn. 

Jupiter does not pass Elnath.  It begins to retrograde on October 9th, 6.3° from the star.

Retrograde is an illusion when Earth overtakes and passes the slower-moving and more-distant outer planets.

Tomorrow morning, the moon has a conjunction with Pollux.

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