This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:03. The Moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 4:13 tomorrow morning.
Let’s find out where the naked-eye planets have wandered off to this week,. Venus is too close to the direction of the Sun to be seen. Mercury just might be seen very low in the west-northwest by 10 pm or so. Venus will appear in the evening sky next month. By 5:15 tomorrow morning, or about 45 minutes before sunrise, Saturn will be in the south-southeast and Mars will be lower in the east, and Jupiter will be low in the east-northeast. The skinny waning crescent Moon may be seen halfway between Jupiter and the northeastern horizon. Saturn will be a bit dimmer this year and next due to its rings being nearly edge on to us and not reflecting as much light. Saturn will rise at 12:40 am, Mars at 2:48 am, and Jupiter at 3:51 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.
Addendum
Mercury and Venus in the evening sky 1/2 an hour after sunset or 10 PM according to Stellarium . Spotting Mercury will be a real challenge and probably require binoculars. This is not a good elongation of Mercury for observers in the northern hemisphere so don’t worry if you can’t spot it. Venus, basically, is too close to the horizon to be spotted. Created using Stellarium.
The morning planets and the Moon are spread out from the east-northeast to the south in the morning sky at 5:15 AM, or about 45 minutes before sunrise, July 4, 2024. Also visible is the bright star Capella. Created using Stellarium.
This is the Moon according to Stellarium a day before new as it might appear tomorrow morning, July 4th 2024. The night side of the Moon will appear to be illuminated by earthshine, the reflection of the Sun’s light from off the Earth in the Moon’s sky. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic Saturn and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope at 5 AM July 4th 2024 with the same magnification. Apparent diameters: Saturn 18.0″, its rings 41.9″; Mars, too small to be represented here, is 5.4″; Jupiter 33.7″. Note the ” means seconds of arc, or 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 July 3, 2024. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 4th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
This is an ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, July 3rd and 4th 2024. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere. The time of the positions is 8 pm EDT, (0 hr UT the next date). R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed by my Ephemeris Helper app.
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