Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 6th.  The sun rises at 6:34.  It’ll be up for 14 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 9:01.   The moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 3:03 tomorrow morning.  |  Wednesday is bright planet day on Ephemeris.  Reddish Mars is in Virgo in the southwest as darkness falls.  It’s 113 million miles (183 million km) away now, over twice as far as it was last April, and will set at 11:58 p.m.  Saturn will be low in the south-southwest as darkness falls, in the faint constellation of Libra the scales.  It will set at 12:43 a.m.  Saturn’s great viewing with small or large telescopes to see those fabulous rings and its large moon Titan.  Somewhat larger telescopes can spot some smaller moons closer in.  Brilliant Venus will rise in the east northeast at 4:47 a.m. in morning twilight.  Dark skies for the Perseid meteor shower will run from 3:03 a.m. to 4:34 a.m.  Bright meteors will be visible all night.

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

Addendum

The planets Mars and Saturn with the bright stars and the Moon at 10 p.m., August 6, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

Saturn and its satellites through a telescope as seen on the evening of August 6, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

The Moon as it would be seen in binoculars at 10 p.m. , August 7, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

Venus and the constellations of winter rising in morning twilight at 5:30 a.m., August 7, 2014.