This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, June 24th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:58. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 2:36 tomorrow morning.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. By 10:30 PM tonight, nearly an hour after sunset, Venus and Jupiter are seen in the western sky, with Jupiter below and right of the brighter Venus. Mercury, though being just above the horizon at that time, is completely overcome by the twilight. A telescope will show a very tiny gibbous disc of Venus, because it is still pretty much beyond the Sun, 102 million miles (164 million kilometers) away from us. Over the next 4 months it will be moving closer to us and becoming much larger. In the morning, Saturn will rise at 1:52 AM, followed by dimmer Mars nearly 2 hours later. The Earth is now chasing down Mars, and soon the launch window will open to send spacecraft to the Red Planet.
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Jupiter and Venus at 10:30 PM tonight, June 24, 2026. This may be about it for Jupiter in the evening sky. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon, 3 days after first quarter, as seen at 10:30 PM tonight, June 24, 2026. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Saturn and Mars at 5 AM tomorrow morning June 25, 2026. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic Venus and Jupiter at 10:30 PM tonight, June 24, 2026, and Saturn at 5 AM on the 25th (north up), as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 15.4″, and be 71.3% illuminated. Jupiter will be 31.9″ in diameter, with its moons shown for the time listed, However, they will be probably invisible in the bright twilight. Saturn will be 17.1″ in diameter, and its rings extend to 40.4″ and are tilted 9.0º to our view. Mars, not shown, will appear 4.4″ in diameter. The (”) symbol means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The naked-eye planets at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on June 24, 2026. 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.
The naked-eye planets, from Mercury to Saturn in a low angle perspective view from above and a bit beyond Saturn’s orbit for today, June 24, 2026. Created using my LookingUp app, text and arrows created using LibreOffice Draw and created a unified image using GIMP.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 