This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 15th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 9:25, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:12. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 10:35 this evening. | Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. By 10 PM tonight, a half-hour after sunset, Venus will be easily seen in the western sky. A telescope will show a very tiny gibbous disc of Venus because it is now closer than the Sun, at 86.9 million miles (139.9 million kilometers) away from us. Over the next nearly 3½ months, it will be moving closer to us and becoming much larger. In the morning, Saturn and Mars will be visible in the southeast and east, respectively. The Earth is now chasing down Mars, and later this year the launch window will open to send spacecraft to the Red Planet. Mars will be next closest to the Earth and opposite the sun in the sky next February.
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
Venus in the western sky at 10 PM tonight, July15, 2026. To the lower right is the 23 hour old Moon. I doubt if it cn be spotted. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn and Mars will be seen at 5 AM tomorrow morning July 16, 2026. Mars is entering the part of the sky with bright stars, the winter sky. So it won’t stand out until it gets much closer to the Earth. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic Venus at 10 PM tonight, July 15, 2026, and Saturn at 5 AM on the 16th (north up), as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 18.0″, and be 63.0% illuminated. Saturn will also be 18.0″ in diameter, and its rings extend to 41.9″ and are tilted 9.4º to our view. Mars, not shown, will appear 4.6″ in diameter, and is 94.4% illuminated. 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 July 15, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 16th. 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 of the solar system from above and a bit beyond Saturn’s orbit for today, July 15, 2026. Created using my LookingUp app, text and arrows created using LibreOffice Draw and produced a unified image using GIMP.
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