October 29, 2024: Before sunrise, a pretty crescent moon is in the east-southeastern sky. Look for earthshine. Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars are visible during nighttime hours.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:20 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 5:48 p.m. CDT. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
Here is the planet forecast:
Morning Sky
Morning Crescent Moon
One hour before sunrise, a lovely crescent moon is visible in the east-southeast. The lunar orb, 8% illuminated, is nearly 20° above the horizon. It is in front of Virgo, 6.9° to the upper right of Porrima.
Look for earthshine on the moon’s night portion from sunlight reflected from Earth’s features. Take a photograph with a tripod mounted camera and exposures up to a few seconds.
Jupiter
Bright Jupiter is high in the west-southwest. It is the brightest star in the sky this morning. The Jovian Giant is retrograding between the Bull’s horns, Elnath and Zeta Tauri, 11.5° to Aldebaran’s upper left, Taurus’ brightest star.
Mars
Mars, considerably dimmer than Jupiter, but resembling Aldebaran in color and brightness, is high in the south. It marches eastward in front of Gemini, 6.9° to Pollux’s lower left. The Red Planet’s eastward trek is nearly at an imaginary line that begins at Castor and extends through Pollux. This alignment occurs tomorrow as Mars marches into Cancer.
Evening Sky
Mercury continues to slowly emerge from bright evening twilight, setting tonight nearly 40 minutes after nightfall. It is visible next month.
Evening Star Venus
Venus is visible as Mercury sets. The Evening Star is nearly 10° above the southwest horizon and 5.4° to Antares’ upper left, Scorpius’ brightest star.
Antares is a challenge to see as it reaches its heliacal setting, its final evening appearance in the western sky after sunset for the year. Its rosy color is muted by the hues of evening twilight. A binocular might be needed to see it. Antares disappears into brighter evening twilight, reaching solar conjunction on December 1st.
Venus finally emerged from evening twilight, gaining 35 minutes of setting time compared to sunset during the month. During November, the planet gains 65 minutes of setting time improving its visibility.
Saturn
At this hour, Saturn is nearly one-third of the way from the southeast horizon to overhead and over 20° to the star Fomalhaut’s upper left. The Ringed Wonder retrogrades in front of Aquarius.
Venus-Jupiter Opposition Approaches
Jupiter rises over two hours after sundown, followed by Mars about three hours later. On November 3rd, Jupiter rises as Venus sets, a Venus-Jupiter opposition. After this date, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn are visible in the evening sky at the same time. Venus and Jupiter are on opposite sides of the sky while Saturn is between them.
By tomorrow morning Jupiter and Mars are high in the southern sky, while the very thin moon is above the east-southeast horizon.
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