This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 24th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 56 minutes, setting at 9:17, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:21. The Moon, halfway from full to last quarter, will rise at 11:23 this evening.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Venus may still be too close to the direction of the Sun to be easily seen, it will set at 10:02 pm in the west-northwest. The best time to spot it will start about 9:40 pm or so. Mercury has been fading as its phase has become a crescent, as it’s heading back to the direction of the Sun. By 5:30 tomorrow morning, or about 50 minutes before sunrise, Saturn will be in the south below and right of the waning gibbous Moon, Mars and Jupiter will make a right triangle with the bright star Aldebaran in the east with Mars on top and Jupiter on the left. Saturn may look disappointing in telescopes this year since rings are nearly edge on and appear almost as a line through the planet. Saturn will rise at 11:14 pm, Mars will rise at 2:04 am, and finally Jupiter at 2:39 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
In this view from Stellarium looking toward the west-northwest at 9:45 PM or about 1/2 an hour after sunset, Venus appears about 2 1/2 degrees above the Lake Michigan horizon. Mercury doesn’t appear to be visible through the bright twilight even though Stellarium points it out with the with the tag. It might be spotted with binoculars.
The waning gibbous Moon and Saturn rising at midnight tonight in the east . Created using Stellarium.
The Moon as it might appear in binoculars or a small telescope at 12 AM tomorrow morning, July 25th 2024. Selected features are labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Saturn, the Moon, Mars and Jupiter as they might be seen low in the east and southern sky at 5:30 AM, or about 50 minutes before sunrise, tomorrow morning July 25, 2024. Saturn will rise at 11:13 PM, Mars at 2:04 AM, and Jupiter at 2:39 AM. Note the near right triangle of Mars, Jupiter and Aldebaran. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic Saturn and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope at 5 AM July 25th 2024 with the same magnification. Apparent diameters: Saturn 18.6″, its rings 43.3″, 2 degrees from edge on; Mars, too small to be represented here, is 5.8″; Jupiter 35.0″. 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 24, 2023. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 25th. 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 24th and 25th 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. 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.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 