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03/28/2012 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, March 28th. The sun will rise at 7:29. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 35 minutes, setting at 8:05. The moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 2:10 tomorrow morning.
Let’s see what’s happening with the bright planets for this week. Venus and Jupiter are separating in the western sky after sunset. Jupiter is below Venus, the brighter planet. Jupiter will set at 11:01 p.m. followed by Venus at 12:20 a.m. Mars is up in the southeast in the evening with its unmistakable bright reddish color. It’s in the constellation Leo the lion now. It is 68.3 million miles and moving away. Mars will pass due south at 11:43 p.m. and will be setting in the west at 6:37 a.m. Saturn will rise at 9:31 p.m. just to the left of the bright star Spica in the east southeast. It will pass due south at 3:01 We have 4 bright planets visible in the evening.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The stars and planets at 10:30 p.m. on 3/28/2012. Created using Stellarium,
My photo of the moon, Venus and Jupiter last night
This was taken shortly after 9 p.m. with my Canon point &shoot type camera in manual mode. The moon is over exposed to get Jupiter at the bottom, but does show some earthshine.
03/26/2012 – Ephemeris – The moon will pass Venus today
Ephemeris for Monday, March 26th. The sun will rise at 7:33. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 8:03. The moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 12:25 tomorrow morning.
Yesterday the moon moved past Jupiter in the sky. Today the moon will pass Venus, the brightest planet. Check them out in the west southwest in the evening after sunset. Venus is going to be at greatest elongation from the sun tomorrow. Venus is at an angle of 46 degrees from the sun, and it will soon diminish. As it does, this is the best time to view Venus in a telescope. 400 years ago Galileo observed Venus with his small telescope and observed that Venus had phases like the moon, and its size changed proving that Venus orbited the sun and not the earth. You can repeat his observations this spring. Venus now appears about half illuminated by the sun, like the quarter moon. Its phase will thin and it will grow in size.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Moon passing Venus with Jupiter below. Created using Stellarium.
03/21/2012 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, March 21st. The sun will rise at 7:42. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 7:56. The moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:18 tomorrow morning.
Let’s see what’s happening with the bright planets for this week. Mercury will pass between the earth and the sun, and will enter the morning sky this afternoon, so is invisible. Venus and Jupiter are separating in the western sky after sunset. Jupiter is below of Venus, the brighter planet. Jupiter will set at 11:20 p.m. followed by Venus at 12:05 a.m. Mars is up in the southeast in the evening with its unmistakable bright reddish color. It’s in the constellation Leo the lion now. It is 65.2 million miles and moving away. Mars will pass due south at 12:23 a.m. and will be setting in the west at 7:15 a.m. Saturn will rise at 10:01 p.m. just to the left of the bright star Spica in the east southeast. We have 4 bright planets visible in the evening.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The planets visible at 10:30 p.m. March 21, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
Scott Anttila was photographing the red planet instead of drinking green beer on Srt. Patrick’s day night. Here is the result.
Mars on March 17, 2012 at 10:15 p.m. edt. Photo by Scott Anttila.
This I generally consider the bland side of Mars. However the white blotch near the center appears to be clouds over the largest mountain in the solar system Olympus Mons. I’m willing to bet the three white blotches to the right of it are clouds over the three Tharsis volcanoes, from top to bottom: Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons.
03/16/2012 – Ephemeris – Jupiter and Venus: Where do they go from here?
Ephemeris for Friday, March 16th. The sun will rise at 7:52. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 58 minutes, setting at 7:50. The moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 5:02 tomorrow morning.
Now that the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus us over, what happens next? Well, Jupiter will continue to head westward toward the sun, and soon will be caught up into twilight. Its and principally the earths motion will move it behind the sun on May 13th. Venus still has 11 days before it reaches its greatest elongation from the sun, then it too will appear to head back toward the sun. It will actual cross in front of the sun on the evening of June 5th, where we will see the first part of the extremely rare transit of Venus. These transits occur in pairs 8 years apart separated by more than a century. The last was in 2004, the next will occur in 2117. Observations of these in the 18th century helped determine the distance to the sun.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The planets at 11 p.m. March 14, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
The last step of the animation shows Jupiter and Venus tonight.
03/15/2012 – Ephemeris – Astronomical Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus
Ephemeris for Thursday, March 15th. The sun will rise at 7:53. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 7:49. The moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 4:22 tomorrow morning.
This morning is the actual conjunction of Jupiter and Venus according to astronomers. They may have looked closest yesterday or the day before, but this morning is the time they appear at the same right ascension. Right ascension is the celestial equivalent to longitude on the earth. Meaning that Venus would be directly north of Jupiter. The terms celestial longitude and latitude have already been taken, and are actually oriented to the plane of the earth’s orbit, rather to the earth’s axis and equator. First year astronomy students accuse instructors of using such terms just to confuse them. Astronomers call the angle for the tilt of the earth’s axis the obliquity of the ecliptic. How’s that for a tongue twister.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Jupiter and Venus at nightly intervals from March 12 to 16, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
The 4th step, the one before the last is where Jupiter and Venus are tonight.
03/14/2012 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Wednesday, March 14th. The sun will rise at 7:55. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 7:47. The moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 3:35 tomorrow morning.
Let’s see what’s happening with the bright planets for this week. Mercury will make a brief appearance in the west after sunset. It will set at 8:54. Venus and Jupiter are brilliant in the western sky after sunset. Jupiter will be just below left of Venus, the brighter planet. Jupiter will set first at 11:40 p.m. followed by Venus at 11:53. Mars is up in the east in the evening with its unmistakable bright reddish color. It’s in the constellation Leo the lion now. It is 63.5 million miles and moving away. Mars will pass due south at 1:04 a.m. and will be setting in the west near sunrise. Saturn will rise at 10:31 p.m. just to the left of the bright star Spica in the east southeast.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The planets at 11 p.m. March 14, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
03/13/2012 – Ephemeris – Jupiter now to the lower left of Venus
Ephemeris for Tuesday, March 13th. The sun will rise at 7:57. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 7:46. The moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 2:38 tomorrow morning.
Tonight the planet Jupiter will begin to tuck under Venus coming from the left as they appear together in the west after sunset. Venus and Jupiter are the two brightest planets seen in the sky. Venus is the brightest for two reasons. Number one, its close to us. It is actually the closest planet to the earth. When it passes between us and the sun June 5th, it will be only 26.8 million miles away. That’s a bit farther than normal, since the earth will be a month away from its farthest point from the sun. Also Venus’ sulfuric acid cloud tops reflect most of the light it receives from the sun. Jupiter is bright due to its great size with a surface area over 120 times that of the earth. Still sunlight is diluted to one twenty fifth that of earth.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Jupiter and Venus at nightly intervals from March 12 to 16, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
Tonight’s position of the planets is the second frame of the animation.
03/12/2012 – Ephemeris – Jupiter is level with Venus, also possible northern lights tonight
Ephemeris for Monday, March 12th. The sun will rise at 7:59. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 7:45. The moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 1:33 tomorrow morning.
In the western evening sky, Jupiter and Venus are making a pass at each other. They shouldn’t, in the modern sense since Venus or Aphrodite of the Greeks was the daughter of Jupiter or Zeus. .Over this week we’ll watch as Jupiter slips below Venus to lead Venus in setting. Tonight Jupiter is level with and left of Venus. Venus will always be the brighter of the two. We also have an aurora watch for this evening. The sun has been active this weekend with a series of flares emanating from the largest sunspot group now visible called active region 1429. This group is rotating off so it’s flares soon won’t affect the earth. Check spaceweather.com for the latest. And check bobmoler.wordpress.com for an animation of the planet conjunction.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Jupiter and Venus at nightly intervals from March 12 to 16, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
The first frame of the animation is for tonight.
03/07/2012 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, March 7th. The sun will rise at 7:08. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 6:38. The moon, 1 day before full, will set at 6:47 tomorrow morning.
Let’s see what’s happening with the bright planets for this week. Mercury will make a brief appearance in the west after sunset. It will set at 8:15. Venus is brilliant in the western sky after sunset and will set at 10:39 in the west. Jupiter the second brightest planet after Venus is located just above it. They are approaching each other. Jupiter will set at 10:57 p.m.. Mars is up by sunset in the east and is in the constellation Leo the lion. It is 62.6 million miles away . It’s now as bright as most first magnitude stars. Mars will pass due south at 12:37 a.m. and will be setting in the west at sunrise. Saturn will rise at 10:00 p.m. just to the left of the bright star Spica in the east southeast. The moon will appear near it on Saturday evening.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Below is Mars a photo by Scott Anttila.
Mars on the morning of March 5, 2012 by Scott Anttila
Scott’s description: “Near 100% illumination, Syrtis Major, the Horse Tail, small polar cap, clouds all around the equatorial area. It is a quick and dirty processing of the Image. There might be more detail that can be teased out when I have more time.”
Syrtis Major is the large dark area. The name means Great Swamp. i am unfamiliar with the Horse Tail. I’m guessing that it’s the linear dark feature on the lower left of the image. If so the proper name is Sinus Sabaeus. Sinus is “Bay”. Ther are no bays or swamps on bone dry Mars or for that matter seas on the moon. The names were established before the nature of these features were known.
The sky after sunset showing all the evening planets. Created using Stellarium.
This is from Monday, but still pretty close to tonight’s view.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 