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03/09/2022 – Ephemeris – Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, March 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 35 minutes, setting at 6:41, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:04. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 2:28 tomorrow morning.
Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week. There are no bright planets in the evening sky. Jupiter, the last to leave, will stay too close to the direction of the Sun to be visible in the morning sky for at least a month. So that’s where the action shifts. Jupiter joins Mercury, Saturn, Venus and Mars. Late winter and early spring mornings aren’t the best for spotting planets close to the Sun, since they tend to lie low in the southeastern sky. Saturn and Mercury are also too close to the direction of the Sun to be spotted now. Venus will rise at 4:55 tomorrow morning and Mars will rise at 5:16. By 6:15, they will be low in the southeast, with much dimmer Mars at the 5 o’clock position below Venus.
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
The waxing crescent Moon at 8 pm or an hour or so after sunset tonight, March 9, 2022. It is shown as it might be seen in binoculars or a small telescope. Created using Stellarium.
Morning planets Venus and Mars at 6:15 am, or about 45 minutes before sunrise tomorrow, March 10, 2022. Created using Stellarium.
Venus through a telescope as it would appear before sunrise tomorrow morning, March 10, 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 27.78″, and it is 44.0% illuminated by the Sun. Mars has an apparent diameter of 4.83″, and is slightly gibbous at 93.3% illuminated. (” 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 and Mars.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on March 9, 2022. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 10th. Notice that all the naked-eye planets are in the morning sky now. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.
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