2024, October 14: Tonight’s Highlight:  Saturn-Moon Conjunction

October 14, 2024:  After sundown, look for a Saturn-Moon conjunction. The bright gibbous moon is near Saturn.  Venus, Jupiter, and Mars are visible during the night.

Juiter, Saturn, Moon, November 19, 2020
2020, November 19: The crescent moon is 5,4° to the lower left of Saturn, while Jupiter is 3.3° to the lower right of the Ringed Wonder.

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:03 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 6:10 p.m. CDT.  Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.

Look for Four Bright Planets

During the night, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter are visible.  Mercury continues to emerge from bright evening twilight, setting 21 minutes after sunset.

Venus from Galileo (NASA photo)
Photo Caption – Venus as viewed from the Galileo spacecraft (NASA photo)

Venus is very easy to see low in the southwest during evening twilight.  At 45 minutes after nightfall, the planet is over 6° above the southwest horizon.  Find a clear view looking toward its direction.

And a Comet

(Sept. 22, 2024) --- Comet C2023-A3, or Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, was pictured about 99.4 million miles away from Earth by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick using long-duration photography on a camera programmed for high sensitivity aboard the International Space Station
Photo Caption – (Sept. 22, 2024) — Comet C2023-A3, or Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, was pictured about 99.4 million miles away from Earth by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick using long-duration photography on a camera programmed for high sensitivity aboard the International Space Station

(Find Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in the western sky after sunset between Venus and the star Arcturus.  Minimally, use a binocular to locate it.)

Saturn

Saturn, Ring-Plane Crossing
Photo Caption – In one of nature’s most dramatic examples of “now-you see-them, now-you-don’t,” NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured Saturn on May 22, 1995 as the planet’s magnificent ring system turned edge-on. This ring-plane crossing occurs approximately every 15 years when the Earth passes through Saturn’s ring plane. (NASA photo)

At the same hour that Venus is visible, Saturn is over 20° up in the southeast and near the gibbous moon.  More about this in the highlight section below.

Jupiter

Jupiter
Image Caption – A Hubble Space Telescope view of Jupiter (NASA photo)

Jupiter rises nearly three hours after sunset and 90 minutes after Venus sets.  With Earth overtaking the Jovian Giant, the planet rises earlier each evening. On November 3rd, Jupiter rises as Venus sets.  Afterward, three bright planets – Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter – are visible simultaneously after sundown. Jupiter retrogrades between Taurus’ horns.

Mars

Mars at opposition, 2016 and 2018
These side-by-side images of Mars, taken roughly two years apart, show very different views of the same hemisphere of Mars. Both were captured when Mars was near opposition, which occurs about every two years, when Earth’s orbit catches up to Mars’ orbit. At that time, the Sun, Earth, and Mars fall in a straight line, with Mars and the Sun on “opposing” sides of Earth. (NASA Photo)

Mars rises over two hours after Jupiter.  By morning twilight both are high in the southern sky, in front of adjacent zodiacal constellations.  This morning, Mars approaches Pollux, a Gemini Twin.  A wide conjunction occurs in less than a week.

Here is today’s sky watching highlight:

Saturn-Moon Conjunction

This evening, look for Saturn near the gibbous moon, 91% illuminated.  The Ringed Wonder is 3.9° to the moon’s upper right, a Saturn-Moon conjunction.  Earlier this evening the lunar orb occults or eclipses Saturn for sky watchers in southeast Africa and south-central Asia.

To the unassisted eye, Saturn looks dimmer than usual.  The planet’s rings are nearly edge on from our view.  Their reflectivity contributes to the planet’s brightness in our sky.  Since we are seeing less of the rings, the planet reflects less light toward our view.

Watch the moon continue to wax to the Full moon phase and appear farther eastward from Saturn’s place. The moon reaches that Full phase on the 17th at 6:26 a.m. Central Time.

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