Archive
07/08/2022 – Ephemeris – Polaris the North Star
This is Ephemeris for Friday, July 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 9:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:06. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 2:17 tomorrow morning.
The bright star Polaris is a very important star. It is also known as the North Star and the Pole Star. Its unique position is nearly directly at the zenith at the Earth’s North Pole, making it a very important navigational star. It’s about 40 minutes of arc, or about one and a third Moon diameters away from the extension of the Earth’s axis into the sky. As a rule of thumb, its angular altitude above the northern horizon is approximately one’s latitude, and it stands about at the due north compass point. Polaris is found using the Big Dipper, using the two stars at the front of the dipper bowl to point to it. It’s located at the tip of the handle of the very dim Little Dipper which, this time of year in the evening, appears to be standing on its handle.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Polaris finder and location animation. Three frames: visual appearance in the sky, lines of the asterisms of the Big and Little Dippers, addition of the equatorial grid of celestial coordinates analogous to longitude and latitude on the Earth. The right ascension (like longitude) lines converge over the Earth’s North Pole, with Polaris close by. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
The two stars at the front of the Big Dipper’s bowl, at the bottom of the dipper as it appears now in the evening, point to Polaris near the 11-hour right ascension line. Right ascension, though the same as earthly longitude, is measured in hours, rather than degrees. An hour equals 15 degrees, making 24 hours equal 360 degrees.
07/07/2022 – Ephemeris – A closer look at the bright star Vega
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, July 7th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 9:30, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:05. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 1:53 tomorrow morning.
Vega, in the constellation Lyra the harp, is the highest star In the east and brightest star of the Summer Triangle also rising in that direction. It is an important and much studied star, first as a standard for brightness for the magnitude scale at almost exactly zero. It also has two fields of debris orbiting it. In 1983 the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, IRAS, discovered an excess of infrared radiation coming from the star. It seems now that there are two orbiting rings, one warm, and the other cold. This is somewhat like the two disks the Sun has: The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the Kuiper belt, beyond Neptune. No planets have yet been discovered around Vega, but I wouldn’t bet against it.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Animated Lyra finder chart. The lyre image not supplied by Stellarium but is from The World’s Earliest Music by Hermann Smith, Figure 60, A Project Gutenberg E-Book, and captioned “The Chelys or Greek Tortoiseshell Lyre”. Vega is the brightest star in Lyra, and the brightest star of the Summer Triangle. The other stars of the triangle are Deneb and Altair. Created using Stellarium.
Vega possesses two debris fields, similar to our own solar system’s asteroid and Kuiper belts. Astronomers continue to hunt for planets orbiting Vega, but as of May 2020 none have been confirmed. More info: bit.ly/VegaSystem Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
07/06/2022 – Ephemeris – Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 6th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 9:30, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:04. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 1:32 tomorrow morning.
Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week. All the naked-eye planets are in the morning sky, although Mercury is too close to the Sun to be seen. On the 16th, it will leave the morning sky, crossing over to the evening sky. At 5 am tomorrow, the planets will be spread out from brilliant Venus low in the east-northeast to Saturn higher in the south. To the right and above of Venus, in the east-southeast, will be the Mars. Jupiter is a bit higher in the southeast. Mars is dimmer than Jupiter, but is slowly getting brighter as the Earth creeps up on it. Saturn ends the line of planets in the south. Tonight, Saturn will rise about 11:30 pm. It won’t be an official evening planet until it rises before sunset. That won’t happen until mid-August.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
First quarter Moon tonight with prominent features labeled. Created using Stellarium, GIMP and LibreOffice.
The morning planets at 5 am tomorrow morning, July 7, 2022. The planets actually appear in a straight line in the sky, being placed along the ecliptic, or path of the Sun in the sky. The ecliptic is a great circle on the celestial sphere. Click on the image to enlarge it. The span of the planets from Venus to Saturn is 113 degrees. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium.
Distortions of rendering a spherical sky on a flat plane. The morning planets as seen in a stereographic view where great circles, like the ecliptic and horizon, are either circles or straight lines. In this image, the ecliptic, orange line, runs through the center of the plot, so it appears straight. In the real sky, both the planets and the horizon appear to be in straight lines. This assumes that your horizon is flat. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium.
Views of Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope, with the same magnification, tomorrow morning at 5:00 am, July 7, 2022. I do not show planets less than 10 seconds of arc in diameter. Apparent diameters: Saturn 18.32″, its rings 42.68″; Jupiter 41.68″. Mars is not shown, its apparent diameter is 7.41″ and is 85.4% illuminated; Venus 11.60″, 87.5% illuminated. Jupiter’s 4th Galilean moon, Io, is missing because it is in Jupiter’s shadow. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on July 6, 2022. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 7th. Notice that all the naked-eye planets are in the morning sky now. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.
07/05/2022 – Ephemeris – Taking a close look at Altair
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, July 5th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 27 minutes, setting at 9:30, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:04. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 1:12 tomorrow morning.
The southernmost star of the Summer Triangle is Altair, high in the east-southeast. The other two stars of the triangle are Vega nearly overhead in the east, and Deneb high in the east-northeast. Altair is the closest of the three at a distance of 16.7 light years away. One light year is nearly 6 trillion miles. Altair is 10 times the brightness of the Sun. If seen at Altair’s distance, the Sun would only be as bright as one of the two stars that flank it. What is rather different about Altair is its rapid rotation. While it’s almost twice the sun’s diameter, it rotates once in about 9 hours, The CHARA Interferometer at Mt. Wilson has actually imaged its squashed disk in the infrared. Our Sun’s a slow poke, taking nearly a month to rotate once.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Animated Aquila finder chart with Altair as its brightest star. Also shown are the other two stars of the Summer Triangle, Vega and Deneb. Created using Stellarium.
Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation
07/04/2022 – Ephemeris – Space firsts, or attempts, on our nation’s birthday
This is Ephemeris for Independence Day, Monday, July 4th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:03. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 12:53 tomorrow morning.
To celebrate our nation’s 200th birthday, NASA attempted to land the Viking 1 lander on the planet Mars on July 4th, 1976. The Viking was a combination orbiter and lander and had a twin spacecraft arriving almost two months later. Viking 1 entered orbit on June 19th and began to survey the prime landing area, that radar from the Earth suggested would be smooth, to land on the day of the Bicentennial. However, images from orbit showed too many obstructions, so another area was surveyed. The mission planners from JPL found a spot and sent the Viking lander down to land on Mars on another historic date, July 20, 1976, the 7th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Model of the Viking lander. Credit NASA/JPL.
The first Mars image from the Viking 1 lander, taken moments after touchdown. The Viking landers used rockets to land, after a parachute descent, because the parachutes would not slow the lander enough in the thin Martian atmosphere. The reason to photograph the landing pad was to see how far it would sink into the surface. Credit NASA/JPL.
NASA did finally make a historic landing on July 4th,
the Mars Pathfinder mission, with the first rover to operate on Mars, the Sojourner rover, landed on July 4, 1997. It was a microwave sized rover. The mission on the surface lasted 85 days.
Pathfinder collage, Left to right, the collapsed Sojourner rover attached to one of the lander’s tetrahedron petals; 24 inflated airbags, attached 6 to a side of the Pathfinder tetrahedron; launch of the Delta II rocket carrying Pathfinder to Mars. Credit NASA/JPL.
Sojourner rover investigates a rock named Yogi with its Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer to determine its composition. Credit NASA/JPL.
The Pathfinder Lander/Base Station and its deflated airbags from Sojourner. All communications from Sojourner to Earth is relayed through the Base Station. Credit NASA/JPL.
07/01/2022 – Ephemeris – GTAS meeting and star party tonight
This is Ephemeris for Friday, July 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:01. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 11:44 this evening.
Tonight at 9 pm, the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will have an in-person meeting at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory. The meeting will also be available via Zoom. Becky Shaw returns with a program Famous international and national observatories. I’m not sure which observatories she’s selected, but there are many, not just optical, but radio, infrared, and in space: Hubble, and the soon to become operational James Webb Space Telescope. If it’s clear, there will be a star party following the meeting. The observatory is located south of Traverse City off Birmley Road, between Garfield and Keystone roads. A Zoom link will be available at gtastro.org before the meeting.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
06/30/2022 – Ephemeris – Previewing the skies of July
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for International Asteroid Day, Thursday, June 30th. On this day in 1908, 114 years ago, a small asteroid exploded over the Tunguska region of Siberia. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:01. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 11:11 this evening.
Let’s preview July’s skies. The Sun, having reached its northern solstice, is beginning to slide southward again, at first imperceptibly, then with greater speed. The daylight hours will decrease from 15 hours and 30 minutes tomorrow to 14 hours 41 minutes at month’s end. The daylight hours will be slightly shorter south of Interlochen, and slightly longer to the north. The altitude of the Sun at local noon, when the Sun is due south, will decrease from 68 degrees today to 63 degrees at month’s end. The Sun will be a degree lower in the Straits area. Despite the warmth, the Earth will reach its greatest distance from the Sun this Sunday the 3rd.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Star Chart for July 2022 (11 p.m. EDT, July 15, 2022). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT in the evening and 4:30 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Note the chart times are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th, add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th, subtract ½ hour. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th.
July Morning Star Chart
Star Chart for July mornings, 2022 (4:30 a.m. EDT July 15, 2022). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations, click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris, the North Star.
- Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
- Extend like a spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
- DAqR is the radiant of the South Delta Aquariid meteor shower (Peaks on the 27th)
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2022-07-01 | 3h39m | 4h41m | 23h00m | 0h03m | 0h03m | 3h39m | 0.09 |
| 2022-07-02 | 3h40m | 4h42m | 23h00m | 0h02m | 0h02m | 3h40m | 0.15 |
| 2022-07-03 | 3h41m | 4h43m | 22h59m | 0h01m | 0h11m | 3h41m | 0.22 |
| 2022-07-04 | 3h42m | 4h44m | 22h59m | 0h00m | 0h33m | 3h42m | 0.31 |
| 2022-07-05 | 3h43m | 4h45m | 22h58m | 23h59m | 0h54m | 3h43m | 0.41 |
| 2022-07-06 | 3h45m | 4h45m | 22h57m | 23h58m | 1h13m | 3h45m | 0.51 |
| 2022-07-07 | 3h46m | 4h46m | 22h57m | 23h57m | 1h32m | 3h46m | 0.62 |
| 2022-07-08 | 3h47m | 4h47m | 22h56m | 23h56m | 1h53m | 3h47m | 0.72 |
| 2022-07-09 | 3h49m | 4h48m | 22h55m | 23h55m | 2h18m | 3h49m | 0.82 |
| 2022-07-10 | 3h50m | 4h50m | 22h55m | 23h54m | 2h48m | 3h50m | 0.9 |
| 2022-07-11 | 3h52m | 4h51m | 22h54m | 23h52m | 3h27m | 3h52m | 0.96 |
| 2022-07-12 | 3h54m | 4h52m | 22h53m | 23h51m | – | – | 1 |
| 2022-07-13 | 3h55m | 4h53m | 22h52m | 23h50m | – | – | 1 |
| 2022-07-14 | 3h57m | 4h54m | 22h51m | 23h48m | – | – | 0.97 |
| 2022-07-15 | 3h59m | 4h55m | 22h50m | 23h47m | – | – | 0.91 |
| 2022-07-16 | 4h01m | 4h57m | 22h49m | 23h45m | 23h45m | 23h50m | 0.84 |
| 2022-07-17 | 4h02m | 4h58m | 22h48m | 23h43m | 23h43m | – | 0.74 |
| 2022-07-18 | 4h04m | 4h59m | 22h47m | 23h42m | 23h42m | 0h13m | 0.64 |
| 2022-07-19 | 4h06m | 5h01m | 22h45m | 23h40m | 23h40m | 0h33m | 0.54 |
| 2022-07-20 | 4h08m | 5h02m | 22h44m | 23h38m | 23h38m | 0h53m | 0.44 |
| 2022-07-21 | 4h10m | 5h03m | 22h43m | 23h36m | 23h36m | 1h13m | 0.34 |
| 2022-07-22 | 4h12m | 5h05m | 22h42m | 23h35m | 23h35m | 1h36m | 0.25 |
| 2022-07-23 | 4h13m | 5h06m | 22h40m | 23h33m | 23h33m | 2h02m | 0.18 |
| 2022-07-24 | 4h15m | 5h07m | 22h39m | 23h31m | 23h31m | 2h33m | 0.11 |
| 2022-07-25 | 4h17m | 5h09m | 22h38m | 23h29m | 23h29m | 3h11m | 0.06 |
| 2022-07-26 | 4h19m | 5h10m | 22h36m | 23h27m | 23h27m | 3h58m | 0.02 |
| 2022-07-27 | 4h21m | 5h12m | 22h35m | 23h25m | 23h25m | 4h21m | 0 |
| 2022-07-28 | 4h23m | 5h13m | 22h33m | 23h23m | 23h23m | 4h23m | 0 |
| 2022-07-29 | 4h25m | 5h15m | 22h32m | 23h21m | 23h21m | 4h25m | 0.02 |
| 2022-07-30 | 4h27m | 5h16m | 22h30m | 23h19m | 23h19m | 4h27m | 0.06 |
| 2022-07-31 | 4h29m | 5h18m | 22h28m | 23h17m | 23h17m | 4h29m | 0.11 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Jul 1 Fr Venus: 29.6° W
1 Fr 9:21 am Moon-Beehive: 3.9° S
3 Su 10:59 pm Earth at Aphelion: 1.0167 AU
6 We 10:14 pm First Quarter
9 Sa 1:28 pm Moon Descending Node
10 Su 7:50 pm Moon-Antares: 3° S
12 Tu 10:30 am NASA will release 1st full color images from the
Webb Space Telescope
12 Tu 5:16 pm Moon South Dec.: 26.9° S
13 We 5:08 am Moon Perigee: 357,300 km
13 We 2:37 pm Full Buck Moon
15 Fr 4:16 pm Moon-Saturn: 4° N
16 Sa 3:30 pm Mercury Superior Conj.
18 Mo 8:55 pm Moon-Jupiter: 2.3° N
20 We 10:18 am Last Quarter
21 Th 12:46 pm Moon-Mars: 1.1° S
22 Fr 5:21 am Moon Ascending Node
22 Fr 11:29 pm Moon-Pleiades: 3.7° N
26 Tu 5:19 am Moon North Dec.: 26.9° N
26 Tu 6:22 am Moon Apogee: 406,300 km
26 Tu 10:12 am Moon-Venus: 4.6° S
28 Th 5:26 am Delta Aquariid Shower: ZHR = 20
28 Th 1:55 pm New Moon
Aug 1 Mo Venus: 21.7° W
All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving Time.
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC July, 2022 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Fri 1| 06:01a 09:32p 15:30 | 10:57p 04:35a | Set 11:44p 8%| |Sat 2| 06:01a 09:31p 15:30 | 10:56p 04:36a | Set 12:10a 13%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 3| 06:02a 09:31p 15:29 | 10:56p 04:37a | Set 12:33a 21%| |Mon 4| 06:02a 09:31p 15:28 | 10:56p 04:38a | Set 12:53a 29%| |Tue 5| 06:03a 09:30p 15:27 | 10:55p 04:38a | Set 01:12a 39%| |Wed 6| 06:04a 09:30p 15:26 | 10:54p 04:39a |F Qtr Set 01:32a 49%| |Thu 7| 06:04a 09:30p 15:25 | 10:54p 04:40a | Set 01:53a 60%| |Fri 8| 06:05a 09:29p 15:24 | 10:53p 04:41a | Set 02:17a 70%| |Sat 9| 06:06a 09:29p 15:22 | 10:52p 04:42a | Set 02:47a 80%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 10| 06:07a 09:28p 15:21 | 10:51p 04:43a | Set 03:27a 89%| |Mon 11| 06:08a 09:28p 15:20 | 10:51p 04:44a | Set 04:19a 95%| |Tue 12| 06:08a 09:27p 15:18 | 10:50p 04:46a | Set 05:26a 99%| |Wed 13| 06:09a 09:26p 15:17 | 10:49p 04:47a |Full Rise 10:05p 100%| |Thu 14| 06:10a 09:26p 15:15 | 10:48p 04:48a | Rise 10:49p 98%| |Fri 15| 06:11a 09:25p 15:14 | 10:47p 04:49a | Rise 11:23p 92%| |Sat 16| 06:12a 09:24p 15:12 | 10:46p 04:50a | Rise 11:50p 85%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 17| 06:13a 09:24p 15:10 | 10:44p 04:52a | Rise 12:12a 76%| |Mon 18| 06:14a 09:23p 15:08 | 10:43p 04:53a | Rise 12:33a 66%| |Tue 19| 06:15a 09:22p 15:07 | 10:42p 04:54a | Rise 12:52a 56%| |Wed 20| 06:16a 09:21p 15:05 | 10:41p 04:56a |L Qtr Rise 01:13a 46%| |Thu 21| 06:17a 09:20p 15:03 | 10:40p 04:57a | Rise 01:35a 36%| |Fri 22| 06:18a 09:19p 15:01 | 10:38p 04:58a | Rise 02:01a 27%| |Sat 23| 06:19a 09:18p 14:59 | 10:37p 05:00a | Rise 02:32a 19%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 24| 06:20a 09:17p 14:57 | 10:35p 05:01a | Rise 03:11a 12%| |Mon 25| 06:21a 09:16p 14:55 | 10:34p 05:03a | Rise 03:57a 7%| |Tue 26| 06:22a 09:15p 14:53 | 10:33p 05:04a | Rise 04:51a 3%| |Wed 27| 06:23a 09:14p 14:50 | 10:31p 05:05a | Rise 05:52a 1%| |Thu 28| 06:24a 09:13p 14:48 | 10:30p 05:07a |New Set 09:46p 0%| |Fri 29| 06:25a 09:12p 14:46 | 10:28p 05:08a | Set 10:14p 2%| |Sat 30| 06:26a 09:10p 14:44 | 10:27p 05:10a | Set 10:38p 5%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 31| 06:27a 09:09p 14:41 | 10:25p 05:11a | Set 10:59p 10%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Created using my LookingUp for DOS output as text.
06/29/2022 Ephemeris – Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, June 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:00. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 10:32 this evening.
Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week. All the naked-eye planets are in the morning sky, although Mercury is too close to the Sun to be seen. At 5 am tomorrow the planets will be spread out from Mercury invisible on the horizon, brilliant Venus low in the east-northeast to Saturn higher in the south. To the right and above of Venus, in the east-southeast, will be the Mars. Jupiter is in the southeast. Mars is dimmer than Jupiter, but is slowly getting brighter as the Earth is slowly advancing on it. Saturn ends the line of planets in the south. By tomorrow night, Saturn will rise a minute before midnight. It won’t be an official evening planet until it rises before sunset. That won’t happen until mid-August.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The morning planets at 5 am tomorrow morning, June 30, 2022. The planets actually appear in a straight line in the sky, being placed along the ecliptic, or path of the Sun in the sky. The ecliptic is a great circle on the celestial sphere. Click on the image to enlarge it. The span of the planets from Venus to Saturn is 114 degrees. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium.
The image above was plotted using the Miller cylindrical projection. While the azimuths are correct, the other plots are not. The planets actually appear to be in a straight line in the sky. I’ve finagled a stereographic projection to show that fact, as seen below.
Distortions of rendering a spherical sky on a flat plane. The morning planets as seen in a stereographic view where great circles, like the ecliptic and horizon, are either circles or straight lines. In this image, the ecliptic, orange line, runs through the center of the plot, so it appears straight. In the real sky, both the planets and the horizon appear to be in straight lines. This assumes that your horizon is flat. Created using Stellarium.
Views of Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope, with the same magnification, tomorrow morning at 5:00 am, June 30, 2022. I do not show planets less than 10 seconds of arc in diameter. Apparent diameters: Saturn 18.16″, its rings 42.31″; Jupiter 40.75″. Mars is not shown, its apparent diameter is 7.20″ and is 85.7% illuminated; Venus 11.91″, 85.8% illuminated. Jupiter’s moon Io will be behind the planet at that time. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on June 29, 2022. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 30th. Notice that all the naked-eye planets are in the morning sky now. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.
06/28/2022 – Ephemeris – Finding the celestial harp
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:00. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.
High in the east at 11 p.m. can be found a bright star just above a small, narrow, but very distinctive parallelogram of stars. They are the stars of the constellation Lyra the harp. The bright star is Vega, the 4th or 5th brightest nighttime star*, and currently the topmost star of the Summer Triangle. To the Romans, the star Vega represented a falling eagle or vulture. Apparently they never made the distinction between the two species. It is a pure white star and serves as a calibration star for color and brightness. In the evening, it is the top-most star of the Summer Triangle. The harp, according to Greek mythology, was invented by the god Hermes. The form of the harp, in the sky, is as he had invented it: by stretching strings across a tortoise shell. Hermes gave it to his half-brother Apollo, who in turn gave it to the legendary musician Orpheus.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
*Vega’s rival for the fourth spot on the brightness list is Arcturus to it’s west. Wikipedia’s source says that Arcturus is slightly brighter. Stellarium’s source says Vega is brighter. The difference is a few hundredths of a magnitude. However, they are of different colors. Vega is pure white, while Arcturus is yellow-orange because it has a cooler surface temperature than Vega. Check them out for yourself.
Addendum
Animated Lyra finder chart. The lyre image not supplied by Stellarium but is from The World’s Earliest Music by Hermann Smith, Figure 60, A Project Gutenberg E-Book, and captioned “The Chelys or Greek Tortoiseshell Lyre”. The three names stars are the stars of the Summer Triangle in the eastern sky these evenings of late June. Created using Stellarium.
06/27/2022 – Ephemeris – Finding the Summer Triangle
This is Ephemeris for Monday, June 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:59. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 5:13 tomorrow morning.
We’re nearly a week into summer, and the asterism or informal constellation called the Summer Triangle can be seen rising in the east as it gets dark. Highest of the three bright stars is Vega in the constellation Lyra the harp, whose body is seen in a narrow parallelogram nearby. The second star of the triangle is Deneb, in Cygnus the swan, lower and left of Vega, It appears dimmer than Vega because it is by far the most distant of the three. The third star of the Summer Triangle is seen farther below and a right of Vega. It is Altair in Aquila the eagle, and the closest. Altair is 16.5 light years away, Vega is 27 light years, while Deneb may be a whopping 2,600 light years away. One light year is 6 trillion miles (9 trillion kilometers).
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Summer Triangle finder animation showing first the unlabeled sky, Then the Summer Triangle with the stars labeled, then the constellations of those stars. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 