Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Wonder why I use the term wander? Planets, definitely don’t wander. They do not move aimlessly, but their motions behave by the action of gravitation discovered by Newton and Einstein. However, we do call these bodies planets, from the Greek “Planetes” which means wanderer. By the time of Aristotle circa 4th century BCE, they realized there was a method to their motions. Except for Aristarchus, they all got it wrong. But they did realize that the planet’s motions were predictable.

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, June 5th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 9:24, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:57. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 5:32 tomorrow morning.

Let’s find out where the naked-eye planets have wandered off to this week, and see what planets are left. Venus, Mercury and Jupiter are now too close to the direction of the Sun to be seen. Venus just entered the evening sky yesterday when it passed behind the Sun in conjunction. It will appear in the evening sky next month, while Jupiter may be visible in the morning later this month. By 5 tomorrow morning, or about an hour before sunrise, Saturn will be low in the southeast and Mars will be lower in the east. In telescopes, Saturn will look fairly different this year and next with its rings nearly edge on to us. They will open up a bit through October before closing again. They are only 2 degrees from being edge on to us.

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