Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Ephemeris for Friday, August 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 8:25, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:02. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 2:56 tomorrow morning.

Tonight at 9:33 pm the Moon will pass Jupiter in our skies. Jupiter will appear about 5 moon-widths above the Moon. It’s a good time to get out those binoculars or a small telescope to look at them. Jupiter will have its four brightest moons, two on each side. They are pretty close in. Tomorrow night they will all be on the west side of the planet. The waxing Gibbous Moon shows most of the Earth facing side now. The sunrise line a day ago brought the crater Copernicus into light on the east or left side of the Moon. Otherwise the east side of the Moon is flatter than the west side being dominated by two flat lunar seas, actually lava plains called the Sea of Clouds and Ocean of Storms. The Moon has never seen clouds or storms.

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

Addendum

Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon as they would appear to the naked eye at 9:33 pm tonight August, 28, 2020. Created using Stellarium which unfortunately shows the Moon dimmer than the planets. In reality is that the Moon very much brighter, almost overpowering the planets.

Jupiter and its 4 Galilean moons as the would appear in a telescope tonight August 28, 2020. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Chart).

The gibbous Moon tonight as it might appear in a low power telescope. Created using Stellarium.