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11/25/2020 – Ephemeris – Let’s look for the naked-eye planets for this week
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, November 25th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 12 minutes, setting at 5:06, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:54. The Moon, 4 days past first quarter, will set at 3:58 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look for the naked-eye planets for this week. Jupiter and Saturn are both low in the southwestern sky from 7 to 8 pm. Jupiter is the very bright one. Above and left will be dimmer Saturn. They are slowly closing, so they will cross paths on the evening of December 21st and be seen in the same telescope field that evening. Jupiter will set first tonight at 8:41 with Saturn following at 8:56. Off in the southeast at that hour will be Mars above the bright gibbous Moon tonight. Mars’ distance is increasing to 55.6 million miles (89.6 million kilometers) away. Mars will set at 3:47 tomorrow morning. Brilliant Venus will rise at 5:21 am in the east-southeast as it retreats slowly toward, but actually around the back of the Sun.
The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Evening planets and the Moon for 7 pm tonight November 25, 2020. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
The gibbous Moon as it might be seen in binoculars this evening at 7 pm November 25, 2020. Created using Stellarium.
Venus and the morning constellations at 6:30 am tomorrow November 26, 2020. Created using Stellarium.
The planets as seen in a telescope (north up) with the same magnification for the night of November 25/26, 2020. Times of the display are: Jupiter and Saturn, 7 pm; Mars, 10 pm; Venus, 6:30 am. Apparent diameters: Jupiter, 34.76″; Saturn, 15.76″, rings, 36.72″; Mars, 15.45″, and Venus 11.85″. Mars also displays an enlargement showing surface detail. Mars was closest to the Earth this go-a-round on October 6. 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 November 25, 2020. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 26th. I’m afraid that the labels for Jupiter and Saturn will overlap, since the planets are getting very close. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
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