Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Wednesday, May 30th.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 9:19.   The moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 3:07 tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:00.

Let’s see what’s happening with the bright planets for this week.  Venus is now very difficult to spot low in the west northwest just after sunset.  The next time you’ll see it will be passing in front of the sun June 5th, a rare event called a transit.  Venus will set at 10:11 p.m.  Venus is 27.3 million miles away and won’t get much closer.  It is an incredibly thin crescent in telescopes.  Mars is in the southwest in the evening in the constellation of Leo the lion with its unmistakable bright reddish color.  It has resumed its eastward motion toward Virgo.  Mars will be setting in the west at 2:42 a.m. Saturn will be in the south above the bright star Spica this now.  It’s due south at 10:37 p.m. and will set at 4:13 a.m.

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