September 26, 2024: The crescent moon passes Pollux, one of the Gemini Twins, before sunrise, a Moon-Pollux conjunction. Bright Jupiter and Mars are in the region. Venus and Saturn are visible after sundown.
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by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:43 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 6:40 p.m. CDT. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
Four Planets Parade
Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars are visible during the night. The parade of the bright planet begins at sunset. The Evening Star shines through evening twilight’s bright colorful hues. At 30 minutes after sundown, look for it over 6° above the west-southwest horizon. Find a spot with a clear view in that direction.
As the sky darkens further, Saturn appears low in the east-southeast before Venus sets and hour after nightfall. During the night, Saturn appears farther westward. It appears south about four hours after sundown, near the time Jupiter rises in the east-northeast, followed by Mars about an hour later.
Saturn sets over an hour before sunrise, but disappears behind the filtering effects of the air about 30 minutes earlier. During morning twilight Jupiter and Mars are in the southeastern sky.
Here is today’s sky watching highlight:
Moon-Pollux Conjunction
An hour before sunrise, look into the southeastern sky. The crescent moon, 34% illuminated, is over halfway up in the east-southeast, 1.9° to Pollux’ lower right, one of the Gemini Twins, a Moon-Pollux conjunction.
Each month the moon passes the star, but Pollux is too far away from the lunar orb to occult or eclipse it.
Bright Jupiter is high in the south-southeast, nearly 35° to the moon’s upper right. The planet is plodding eastward in front of Taurus, 6.4° to Elnath’s lower right, the Bull’s northern horn. Jupiter is slowing its eastward trek before it begins its retrograde next month.
Mars, marching eastward in front of Gemini, is 12.5° to the moon’s upper right. After their conjunction over a month ago, Mars opened a gap to Jupiter that spans over 21° this morning.
Tomorrow morning, Mars is closer to Pollux and farther from Jupiter. The crescent moon is over 13° to Pollux’s lower left, in front of Cancer and in the same binocular field with the Beehive star cluster.
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