Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Monday, February 7th.  The sun will rise at 7:54.  It’ll be up for 10 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 5:59.   The moon, 4 days before first quarter, will set at 10:56 this evening.

The waxing crescent moon will appear near Jupiter in the evening with Jupiter below the moon.  Jupiter is slowly leaving the evening sky, setting earlier by about a half an hour a week, while the  sun is setting later by 10 minutes a week.  These are the last few weeks to get a good view of Jupiter in a telescope before it sinks too close to the horizon for good views.  The more of the earth’s atmosphere we have to look through near the horizon the fuzzier Jupiter looks.  The moon is coming on and will brighten over the next week and a half.  In binoculars the dark spot on the right edge of the moon is the Sea of Crises.  In telescopes usually, about this time, a lone mountain peak at one of the moon’s poles catches the sunlight off the cusp of the crescent.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.