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06/14/2023 – Ephemeris – Let’s find out where the naked-eye planets have wandered off to this week

June 14, 2023 Comments off

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Flag Day, Wednesday, June 14th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 9:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, half way from last quarter to new, will rise at 3:59 tomorrow morning.

Let’s find out where the naked-eye planets have wandered off to this week. Venus is our blazing Evening Star seen in the west all evening. It will set after midnight. The red planet Mars is seen left of and a bit higher than Venus by six and a half degrees, or a bit more than half the width of one’s fist held at arm’s length. Venus is closing the gap between them, but will never quite reach Mars while they are in the evening sky. The closest they will get is three and a half degrees or seven moon diameters apart, before Venus pulls back toward the Sun faster than Mars will. Both Mars and Venus are in Cancer. In the morning, Saturn will be visible low in the south-southeast at 5 am. Jupiter will be very low in the east at that hour.

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

Venus and Mars with bright stars in the western sky at 10:30 pm tonight, June 14, 2023. That’s about an hour after sunset for other locations. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter, Saturn and the waning crescent Moon at 5 am, tomorrow morning, June 15, 2023. The Moon is shown at 3 times actual size at this scale. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium.
What the waning crescent Moon might look like in binoculars tomorrow morning at 5 am, June 15, 2023.
Telescopic Venus, Saturn and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope, with the same magnification at 10:30 pm for Venus and 5 am for Jupiter and Saturn. Apparent diameters: Venus 26.76″ and is 43.4% illuminated; Saturn 17.58″, its rings 40.96″; Jupiter 35.30″. Mars, too small to be represented here, is 4.45″ in diameter. Venus, Saturn and Jupiter are approaching us, so their apparent diameters are growing. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on June 14, 2023. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 15th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Observing, Planets Tags: , , , ,