Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 1st.  The sun rises at 6:29.  It’ll be up for 14 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 9:07.   The moon, at full today, will rise at 8:33 this evening.

Let’s see what’s happening with the bright planets for this week.  Mars Saturn and the star Spica make  a bright triangle in the west southwest after sunset.  Mars is on the right and Saturn is the topmost of the three.  They are located in the constellation Virgo the virgin.  Mars will be setting in the west at 11:38 p.m. Saturn will set at 12:05 a.m.  At mid-month Mars will pass between Saturn and Spica.  The morning sky features the two brightest planets:  Jupiter, which will rise at 1:59 in the east northeast and Venus, which will rise at 3:13 also in the east northeast.  The bright star Aldebaran in Taurus the bull will appear just to the right of Jupiter tomorrow morning, but Venus will have dropped farther below Jupiter, as it stays by the sun.

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

Addendum

Looking southwest at 10:30 p.m. on August 1, 2012. Created using Stellarium. Click on the image to enlarge.

Looking east at 5 a.m. August 2, 2012. That’s Orion rising below Jupiter and Venus. Created using Stellarium. Click on the image to enlarge.