Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Wednesday, March 26th. The sun will rise at 7:34. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 8:02. The moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 5:31 tomorrow morning.

Wednesday is Bright Planets Day here on Ephemeris. Jupiter will be in the southern sky as darkness falls tonight. It’s cruising against the stars of Gemini now, and moving east after spending a couple of months backtracking to the west. It will set at 3:56 a.m. in the west-northwest. Reddish Mars is in Virgo now and left and a bit above bright star Spica in the late evening, which it now outshines. Mars will rise at 9:19 p.m. It will pass due south at 2:54 a.m. It’s 61 million miles away now. Saturn will rise at 11:53 p.m. in the east-southeast. It’s seen against the stars of Libra the scales this year. Venus will rise at 5:43 tomorrow morning. The crescent moon will appear above left of Venus then.

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

Addendum

Jupiter and the winter constellations at 10 p.m. on March 26, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

Mars and the spring constellations at 10 p.m. on March 26, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

Saturn, Venus and the Moon with the constellations of summer at 6:30 a.m. on March 27, 2014. I’ve added Venus’ orbit and the ecliptic. Created using Stellarium.

Venus and the crescent Moon at 6:30 a.m. March 27, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

Relative sizes of the planets as seen in a telescope using the same magnification. Created using Stellarium.