Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Wednesday, April 18th.  The sun rises at 6:52.  It’ll be up for 13 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 8:31.   The moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 5:47 tomorrow morning.

Let’s see what’s happening with the bright planets for this week.  Jupiter has dropped far below brilliant Venus in the west, since their apparent paths crossed a month and a half ago. Jupiter will set at 10:03 p.m. followed by Venus at 12:39 a.m.  Venus is 49.6 million miles away and closing.  Mars is high in the south in the evening with its unmistakable bright reddish color.  It’s in the constellation Leo the lion now.  It is 79.4 million miles from us and moving away.    Mars will pass due south at 10:18 p.m. and will be setting in the west at 5:15 a.m. Saturn will be rising in the east southeast as twilight fades tonight just to the left of the bright star Spica.  It will pass due south at 1:32 a.m.  All the bright planets except Mercury are now visible in the evening.

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

Addendum

The sky and the evening planets at 9:30 p.m. on April 18, 2012. Created using Stellarium.