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07/08/2020 – Ephemeris – Let’s look at the naked-eye planets and a comet for this week
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 23 minutes, setting at 9:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:06. The Moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 12:05 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the naked-eye planets and a comet for this week. Jupiter now rises at 9:41 pm in the east-southeast. Saturn will rise 22 minutes later at 10:03 pm right behind Jupiter. Mars, is stretching its lead left of Saturn and will rise at 1 am in the east. Its now down to 71 and a half million miles (115.2 million km) away, as the Earth slowly overtakes it at the rate of about 3.9 million miles (6.2 million km) a week. Venus will rise at 3:47 am in the east-northeast as our Morning Star. Newly discovered Comet NEOWISE will rise at 3:16 am and be visible in the northeast before the twilit sky brightens too much. The comet gets its name from the NASA Satellite and mission to detect near Earth objects or NEOs in the infrared.
The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Saturn and Jupiter planets plus two southern constellations to the right of them at 11 pm tonight July 8, 2020. Just right of Jupiter is Sagittarius that looks more like a teapot than a centaur with a bow and arrow. Further right is Scorpius the scorpion. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
Planets, the Moon and a comet visible at 5 am tomorrow morning July 9, 2020. Venus appears just above the star Aldebaran. Comet NEOWISE’ tail is visible, but not at this scale, and it is shown as being too bright. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon as it might appear tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. July 9, 2020. Created using Stellarium.
The planets as seen in a telescope (north up) with the same magnification tonight and tomorrow July 8/9, 2020. Apparent diameters: Jupiter, 47.57″; Saturn, 18.43″, rings, 42.94″, Mars, 12.19″, and Venus 37.66″. Mars also displays an enlargement showing surface detail. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on July 8, 2020. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 9th. 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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