Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Monday, March 5th.  The sun will rise at 7:12.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 6:36.   The moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:48 tomorrow morning.

The planet Mars is at its closest to the earth of this time around today.  The distance is 62.6 million miles.  All planets have elliptical orbits.  The Earth varies its distance from the sun by 3 million miles.  Mars has a remarkably elliptical orbit which varies its distance from the sun by nearly 30 million miles.  It is now at its farthest from the sun.  Another small planet is making its appearance in the evening sky now.  That’s Mercury seen low in the west after sunset, much closer to the horizon than bright Venus and Jupiter.  Mercury is at its greatest apparent distance or elongation from the sun.  Mercury will set at 8:14 p.m.  It is hard to spot in twilight, so binoculars will help.  Like Mars Mercury’s orbit is also very elliptical.

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

Addendum

The southern sky with the planets at 7:15 p.m.  Created using Stellarium.

The sky after sunset showing all the evening planets. Created using Stellarium.

Click on the image to enlarge.