Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Ephemeris for Ash Wednesday, March 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 6:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:16. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.

Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week. The last evening planet, Jupiter, will pass behind the Sun this Saturday and enter the morning sky. So the action shifts to the morning sky, where Saturn, Mercury, Venus and Mars reside. Saturn and Mercury are too close to the direction of the Sun to be spotted now. Mercury is heading back toward the Sun. Saturn should be able to be spotted in morning twilight in a few weeks as it joins Venus, our brilliant morning star, and Mars in the southeast about half an hour to 45 minutes before sunrise. Tomorrow morning Mars will be below, and right of bright Venus, which will rise at 5 am, with Mars following at 5:26.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Venus and Mars in the morning as they might appear at 6:30 am, about 45 minutes before sunrise, Thursday, March 3, 2022. Created using Stellarium.

Venus through a telescope as it would appear before sunrise tomorrow morning, March 3, 2022. It’s shown larger than usual, since it’s the only planet that looks like anything in a small telescope now. Its apparent diameter is 30.49″, and it is 39.7% illuminated by the Sun. Mars has an apparent diameter of 4.73″.
(” means seconds of arc. 1″ is 1/3600th of a degree). Created using Stellarium, which is also the source for the apparent diameters and the illuminated fraction of Venus.

The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on March 2, 2022. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 3rd. There’s a label pile up in the sunrise panel where the Labels for Saturn and Mercury overlay each other. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.