This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 19th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 8:41, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:51. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 11:35 this evening.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. By 9:15 PM tonight, a bit over a half-hour after sunset, Venus will be easily spotted in the western sky. A telescope will show a small, nearly half illuminated disk of Venus. It is now rapidly approaching earth in its orbit, at 60.9 million miles (98.1 mil km) away from us. Venus phase is turning into an ever decreasing crescent as its apparent diameter grows in telescopes. At 6 AM, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter will be visible in the south southwest, southeast and east respectively. Saturn is the brightest “star” in its part of the sky, while Mars has the competition of brighter stars, and two brighter red stars of the coming winter evenings. Jupiter is brightest of all.
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 and the moon in the western sky at 9:15 PM tonight, August 19, 2026. Created using Stellarium.
Moon at first quarter, as seen at 9:30 PM tonight, August 19, 2026. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Saturn, Mars and Jupiter will be seen at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning August 20, 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. Jupiter is making its first appearance in the morning sky. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic Venus at 9:30 PM tonight, August 19, 2026, and Saturn and Jupiter at 6:00 AM on the 20th (north up), as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 25.8″, and be 46.1%. Saturn will be 19.0″ in diameter, and its rings extend to 44.4″. Jupiter will be 31.5″n diameter, but its moons may not be visible in the morning twilight. Mars, not shown, will appear 4.9″ 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 August 19th, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 20th. 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, August 19, 2026. Created using my LookingUp app, text and arrows created using LibreOffice Draw and produced a unified image using GIMP.
