Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Wednesday, June 18th.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 9:30.   The moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 1:18 tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 5:56.

It’s Wednesday and once again time to locate the bright planets for this week.   Brilliant Jupiter will be in the west-northwestern sky in Gemini as darkness falls tonight.  It’s getting lower each night and will set at 11:13 p.m. tonight.  Reddish Mars is in Virgo in the southwest as darkness falls.  It’s 83 million miles (135 million km) away now, and will set at 2:25 a.m.  Saturn will be low in the south-southeast as darkness falls.  It’s in the faint constellation of Libra the scales this year.  It will pass due south at 10:57 p.m.  It will set at 3:59 a.m.  Saturn’s in perfect position for viewing with a small or large telescope.  Brilliant Venus will rise in the east at 4:10 a.m. in morning twilight.

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

Addendum

The bright evening planets and stars at 10:30 p.m., June 18, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

Jupiter and moons in a telescope on June 18, 2014. Due to the low altitude of Jupiter not all the moons may be visible and Jupiter will suffer color fringes due to atmospheric dispersion. Created using Stellarium.

Mars through a telescope on June 18, 2018. Note that Mars is not fully illuminated, and appears as a gibbous disc. This effect will increase for another month. Created using Stellarium.

Saturn and its moons through a telescope on June 18, 2018. Titan is easy to spot, the other moons will be more difficult. Created using Stellarium.

Venus and the Moon at 4:30 a.m. on June 19, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

The Moon as seen in binoculars on June 19, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

Venus as seen in a telescope on June 19, 2014. Created using Stellarium.