Home > Ephemeris Program, Planets > 04/29/2020 – Ephemeris – Let’s look at the naked-eye planets for this week

04/29/2020 – Ephemeris – Let’s look at the naked-eye planets for this week

April 29, 2020

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, April 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 8:45, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:33. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 3:07 tomorrow morning.

Let’s look at the naked-eye planets for this week. Venus is our evening star shining brightly in the west. It will set at 12:29 a.m. It’s a couple of days past its greatest brilliancy, and only 41 million miles away. In the morning sky there are three planets fairly close together in the south-southeast. Bright Jupiter will rise first at 2:29 a.m. Followed by Saturn at 2:44 a.m. Mars, stretching its lead left of Saturn, will rise an hour after Saturn. It’s now down to 114 million miles (184 million km) away, as the Earth slowly overtakes it at the rate of about 5 million miles (8 million km) a week. Mars will be closest to us in October. It’s not as close as it was 2 years ago, but closer than it will get for the next 15 years.

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

Addendum

Venus and the Moon

Venus and the fat crescent Moon tonight at 10 p.m. April 29, 2020. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.

Binocular Moon

The Moon as it might appear in binoculars tonight April 29, 2020. Created using Stellarium,

Morning planets in twilight

Morning planets in twilight at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning, April 30, 2020. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.

Telescopic planets

The planets as seen in a telescope with the same magnification. Venus in the evening and Jupiter and Saturn in the morning on the night of April 29/30, 2020. Apparent diameters: Venus, 40.58″; Jupiter, 40.62″; Saturn, 16.92″, rings, 39.42″. Mars at 7.59″ won’t be added until it reaches 10″. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

Planets and the Moon on a single night

Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on April 29, 2020. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 30th. The closeness of Jupiter and Saturn in the morning sky unfortunately overlays planets and labels. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

 

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