Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Wednesday, April 24th.  The sun rises at 6:43.  It’ll be up for 13 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 8:38.   The moon, 1 day before full, will set at 6:24 tomorrow morning.

It’s time to check out the two remaining bright planets for this week.  Jupiter is located in the constellation of Taurus, above the V shape of stars, the face of the bull and is in the west during the evening.  It will set at 12:10 a.m. In the west northwest.  Jupiter is still high enough as it gets dark to get a very good view of its cloud bands and satellites.  The four moons that Galileo found are easy targets for small telescopes or even sharp-eyed binocular observers.  The other bright planet Saturn will rise at 8:43 p.m. in the east southeast.  It’s located in eastern Virgo, but us moving back a bit toward the bright star Spica to its right.  Tonight the bright moon will be near Spica, so it may make both Saturn and Spica hard to spot.

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

Addendum

Jupiter and the fleeing stars of winter at 10 p.m. on April 24, 2013. Created using Stellarium.

Saturn and the moon at 10 p.m. on April 24, 2013. Created using Stellarium.

Our last look at Comet PanSTARRS at 5 a.m. on April 25 to May 1, 2013. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).