Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Friday, July 27th. The Sun rises at 6:23. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 9:14. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 9:16 this evening.

The planet Mars was at opposition with the Sun early this morning, that is opposite the Sun in the sky. It is a time when a planet rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. For us it will rise tonight at 9:40 p.m. 26 minutes after sunset and will set tomorrow at 6 a.m., 24 minutes before sunrise. This odd behavior is due to the fact that Mars is actually south of a lime from the Sun through the Earth. Mars’ orbit is tilted to the Earths’ so it will appear lower in the sky as one would expect for a planet in its position. Today Mars is 35.9 million miles (57.7 million km) away. In four days it will be a bit closer to us due to its elliptical orbit taking it a bit closer to the Sun. How much closer? About 93,000 miles (150,000 km) to us.

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

Addendum

This chart is shown with the horizontal being parallel to the ecliptic, which is the horizontal line near the top of the image.  Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

Mars on opposition day, July 27, 2018 at 1:55 a.m. as it crossed the meridian due south. In the Interlochen/Traverse City area a bit south of 45 degrees north latitude. Mars appears a an altitude of slightly less than 20 degrees altitude. Created using Stellarium.

Update

Mars at opposition and the full Moon at 2:01 a.m. July 27, 2018. I thought I’d go out near the Mars transit time this morning and photograph the Moon and Mars. Earlier we had a pop-up rain shower, and the clouds were clearing out. Got a lucky shot.