Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, April 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 1 minute, setting at 8:41, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:38. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 5:37 tomorrow morning.

Also, tomorrow morning, the Moon will conclude its sweep under the four bright planets of the morning sky by being seen below the left-most and lowest of the four, Jupiter. With nearby Venus, it makes a small right triangle The other planets in order to the right of Jupiter are Venus, Mars and finally Saturn. Jupiter and Venus are appearing to get closer to each other every day now. They will cross paths in conjunction this Saturday. Venus is slowly retreating back and around behind the Sun. Jupiter now appears to be moving away from the Sun. Both, however, are still moving eastward against the stars, it’s just that Venus is moving faster. Next month, when the Moon passes by these planets, they will be a different order.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The Moon passing the morning planets from Sunday to Wednesday mornings 4/24 to 4/27/2022. Note also the approach of Jupiter and Venus. Their paths will cross on Saturday, 4/30/2022. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.