This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, October 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 7:07, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:52. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 10:57 this evening.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Venus might be spotted in the West southwest only 7° above the horizon at 8 PM, 55 minutes after sunset. It will set at 8:23. Saturn will be in the southeast at that time. Saturn may look disappointing in telescopes this year since its rings are nearly edge on and appearing as a line through the planet like it’s stapled onto the sky. Jupiter and Mars will be up in the morning sky, with Jupiter rising about 10:08 PM in the east-northeast. By 7 AM tomorrow, Jupiter will be brighter than any of the winter stars high in the south. Mars, with its reddish hue, will be to the left of Jupiter. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be in the western evening sky starting this weekend. It is expected to be quite bright, I’m betting with a broad tail.
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
Venus and the Moon in evening twilight, approximately an hour after sunset. For the Grand Traverse area of Michigan that would be about 8 PM tonight, October 9, 2024, where Venus, is only 7 degrees above the horizon at sunset. It would be higher from the south of us, below 45° N latitude, and lower for those north of us. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn as it would appear at 8 PM tonight, October 9, 2024, low in east southeast to southeast. With the naked eye it would seem to be pretty much alone in that sector of the sky of dim stars. Created using Stellarium.
Though not visible tonight, the comet will be making an evening appearance at the end of the week. The track of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) for five nights at 8 pm starting with Saturday the 12th. It might be visible on the 11th but the sky might be too bright. On that date we might be able to see the tail without seeing the head of the comet in the twilight. It should be interesting. The bright track on the lower left is Venus. Each label is the date and estimated magnitude. The comet is expected to be brighter that those estimates, especially during the first week of its appearance. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon as it might appear through a small telescope tonight, October 9, 2024. Selected features are labeled. Created using stellarium, LibreOffice draw, and GIMP.
Mars and Jupiter among the bright winter stars, and above the constellation of Orion with its bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel 7:00 AM tomorrow morning, October 10, 2024. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic Venus, Saturn and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. Venus and Saturn are from 8 pm, and Jupiter for 11 pm tonight, October 9, 2024. Apparent diameters: Venus 12.7″, 82.5% illuminated; Saturn 18.9″, its rings 44.0″, 4.8 degrees from edge on (opening up a bit); Jupiter 43.5″; Mars, too small to be represented here, is 8.0″. The ” means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. 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 October 9, 2024. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 10th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, October 9 and 10, 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 in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. 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 as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
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