Home > Ephemeris Program, Jupiter, Observing > Ephemeris: 11/05/2024 – Bright Jupiter is now seen earlier in the evening

Ephemeris: 11/05/2024 – Bright Jupiter is now seen earlier in the evening

November 5, 2024

This is Ephemeris for Election Day, Tuesday, November 5th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 58 minutes, setting at 5:25, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:28. The Moon, 4 days before first quarter, will set at 7:51 this evening.

There’s a bright star in the east these evenings. It is extremely bright. If Venus wasn’t around in the evening in the southwest, one might mistake it for Venus. Well this bright star is not a star at all, but the planet Jupiter. Jupiter is the solar system’s largest planet. It is by and large the easiest planet to observe with a small telescope, which will also reveal four of its many moons, which I think is approaching 100 now. (It’s hard to keep track of them.) These four moons were the same ones discovered by Galileo over 400 years ago. Jupiter’s moons move quite rapidly compared to the Earth’s moon. From night to night Jupiter’s moons shift around. Their motions can also be detected over the period of an evening, or night.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

An animated Jupiter finding chart, showing first the stars and the planet Jupiter as they would be seen at 8 PM or about two and a half hours after sunset looking low in the east-northeast. The second frame show the star and planet names, constellation lines for Auriga the Charioteer and Taurus the bull. The two famous star clusters are also named: the Pleiades or Seven Sisters and the Hyades, the face of Taurus. The star clusters and Jupiter are rewarding sights in binoculars. Created using Strellarium, Libreoffice Draw and GIMP.

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