Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Wednesday, February 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 6:18, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:34. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 7:47 this evening.

Let’s look at the planets for this week. We have two evening planets visible now. Tiny and elusive Mercury should be visible low in the west for about a half hour after 7 p.m. It should be visible for a little over a week. Binoculars are a big help in spotting it. Mars will be in the southwestern sky this evening and will set at 11:46 p.m. In the morning sky we have Jupiter which will rise tomorrow at 3:32 a.m. It is second to Venus in brightness. Saturn will be next to rise at 5:22 a.m. It is just to the right of Venus which will rise at 5:29 a.m. tomorrow. In small telescopes Saturn will show its rings and Venus will show a small slightly gibbous moon shape which will shrink and grow more full over the next months

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

Addendum

Mars, Mercury and bright stars in twilight at 7 p.m. February 20, 2019. Created using Stellarium.

Morning planets and the Moon at 6:30 a.m. February 21, 2019. Click on the image to enlarge. created using Stellarium.

The waning gibbous Moon as it should appear tomorrow morning with binoculars. Created using Stellarium.

Jupiter, Saturn and Venus with the same magnification at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow morning February 21, 2019. See the table of Jupiter moon events tomorrow morning. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

Jupiter satellite events are from https://www.projectpluto.com/jevent.htm

Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on February 20, 2019. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 21st. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.