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Ephemeris: 08/20/2024 – The Moon will pass Saturn tonight

August 20, 2024 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, August 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 47 minutes, setting at 8:39, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:52. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 9:25 this evening.

The bright Moon tonight will have a companion. It will be the planet Saturn, which the Moon will pass below this evening. The Moon being very bright will make it difficult to spot Saturn. So it will seem that Saturn is moving above the Moon, not the other way around. It may take a pair of binoculars to spot Saturn because it will be less than the diameter of the Moon above and to the left of the Moon early in the evening. Moving to the upper right of the Moon towards midnight. Our next full moon will be the Harvest Moon. We’re already seeing the harvest moon effect, that is the Moon rises at nearly the same time on consecutive nights, or almost so. Tomorrow’s Moon will rise only 21 minutes later than tonight’s Moon, at much less than the 50 minutes per night average.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT–4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Three-step animation of the Moon passing Saturn at hourly intervals
The Moon and Saturn as they would appear in binoculars from Northern Michigan at three times: 10 PM, 11 PM and midnight tonight, August 20th 2024. Though shown here as if Saturn was passing the Moon to the West, actually the Moon is passing below Saturn to the east. However they are both carried westward in the sky by the Earth’s rotation which also causes them to be slightly rotated during this time. Dizzy yet? Created using Stellarium and the GIMP.

Saturn will be occulted (covered up) by the Moon tonight for portions of the Earth

Occultation of Saturn Map
The occultation of Saturn by the moon will be visible in an area from South America to Europe. However in most of Europe the occultation will occur during daylight hours. Created using the International Occultation Timing Association’s Occult app.
Categories: Conjunction, Ephemeris Program, Observing, Occultation Tags: , ,