November | 2023 | Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris: 11/02/2023 – Jupiter is at opposition from the Sun tonight

November 2, 2023 bobmoler Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, November 2nd. The Sun will rise at 8:21. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 6:30. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 9:57 this evening.

Tonight the planet Jupiter is at opposition from the Sun. It is the time when the Earth is directly between the Sun and Jupiter, so that Jupiter rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. So for the next 6 or so months Jupiter will be in the evening sky and officially an evening planet. To the naked eye Jupiter is the second brightest planet after Venus and without Venus in the sky it may be mistaken for Jupiter. In binoculars Jupiter appears very bright and not quite star-like. It also has several of its moons that are visible in binoculars. These are its Galilean moons discovered by Galileo back in 1609. In telescopes four can be seen although not all of them may be visible at one time because the moons move back and forth from one side to the other of the planet.

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

Jupiter and its four Galilean moons as seen for six consecutive nights starting tonight November 2nd (top) through November 7th, 2023 (bottom). Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts) and GIMP.

Follow Jupiter’s moons with this tool: Sky & Telescope’s Interactive Tool for Observing Jupiter’s Moons.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: Jupiter, Jupiter's moons, Opposition

Ephemeris: 11/01/2023 – It’s 11/1, do you know where your naked-eye planets are?

November 1, 2023 bobmoler Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, November 1st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 6:31. The Moon, halfway from full to last quarter, will rise at 8:58 this evening.

Let’s find out where the naked-eye planets have wandered off to this week. Three of those five planets are now visible, but Mars and Mercury set too close to sunset to be seen. Saturn is the sole official evening planet visible. It can be spotted in the southeast to south in the evening. And it will still be visible in the morning hours until it sets at 2:21 am. Saturn is seen against the stars of Aquarius this year and next. Jupiter and Venus are the visible morning planets. Jupiter, still a morning planet for one more day, will rise at 6:34 pm. It’s in Aries this year. Jupiter has to rise before sunset to be an evening planet. Venus, the brilliant morning star, will rise in the east-northeast at 4:18 am.

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.