This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 8:17, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:07. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 10:33 this evening.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. By 8:45 PM tonight, a nearly a half-hour after sunset, Venus will be spotted low in the west southwestern sky. Though at a 44º angle from the sun, it’ll only be 6º above the horizon then. A telescope will show a small crescent disk of the planet. It is now rapidly approaching earth in its orbit, at 50.8 million miles (81.8 mil km) away from us. Venus is becoming an ever decreasing crescent as its apparent diameter grows in telescopes. At 6 AM, Saturn will be alone in the southwest, while Mars and Jupiter will be in the east. Jupiter is brightest and lowest while Mars has the competition of brighter stars in Gemini.
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 appears low in the west southwestern sky at 8:45 PM tonight, September 2, 2026. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn, Mars, Jupiter and the Moon will be seen at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning September 3, 2026. Mars, in Gemini, 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 brighter than all the rest. Created using Stellarium.
Moon a day before last quarter at 6 AM tomorrow morning, September 3, 2026. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Telescopic Venus at 8:45 PM tonight, September 2, 2026, and Saturn and Jupiter at 6:00 AM on the 3rd (north up), as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 31.0″, and be 37.5% illuminated. Saturn will be 19.4″ in diameter, and its rings extend to 45.1″, and are tilted 8.6º to our view. Jupiter will be 31.9″ in diameter. Mars, not shown, will appear 5.1″ 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 September 2, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 3rd. 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, September 2, 2026. Created using my LookingUp app, text and arrows created using LibreOffice Draw and produced a unified image using GIMP.
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