Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Wednesday, May 2nd.  The sun rises at 6:30.  It’ll be up for 14 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 8:48.   The moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 4:39 tomorrow morning.

Let’s see what’s happening with the bright planets for this week.  Venus is high in the west as it gets dark.  Enjoy it now, because it will be gone in 5 weeks.  Venus will set at 12:28 a.m. in the west northwest.  That’s 8 minutes earlier than last week, so it’s noticeable drawing closer to the sun.  Venus is 40.1 million miles away and closing.  It is a breautiful brilliant crescent in telescopes.  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 89 million miles from us and moving away.    Mars will pass due south at 9:30 p.m. and will be setting in the west at 4:18 a.m. Saturn will be in the east southeast just to the left of the bright star Spica.  It will pass due south at 12:33 a.m.

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

Addendum

The stars and planets at 9:30 p.m. on May 2, 2012. Created using Stellarium.