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Ephemeris: 10/08/2025 – Weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

October 8, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, October 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 20 minutes, setting at 7:09, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:51. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 7:42 this evening.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn rises before sunset in the east. It is the brightest star like object in the east southeastern sky at 8 PM not long after the Moon rises. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 1.2° from being edge on in telescopes. Saturn has an axial tilt of about 27°, so it has seasons like the Earth and since its rings are over its equator, when they go edge on to the Sun, it is an equinox for it, which happened this past May. Earth, being close to the Sun, sees nearly the same thing. Now the ring angle for us will decrease to about a third of a degree by November 23rd before increasing. By 7 AM, Jupiter will appear high in the southeast, under the stars of Gemini. With brighter Venus low in the east.

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

Saturn in the east southeast with the just risen waning gibbous Moon at 8 PM tonight
Saturn in the east southeast with the just risen waning gibbous Moon at 8 PM tonight, October 8, 2025. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon tonight, October 8, 2025. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Venus and Jupiter are visible in the southeastern sky among the winter stars at 7 AM tomorrow morning, October 9, 2025. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of the October 8, 2025, Saturn will be 19.3″ in diameter, but its rings, being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 45.0″. They are tilted 1.2° from being edge on. At 7 AM on the morning of October 9, 2025, Jupiter will be 37.9″ in diameter. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 10.8″, and be 92.7% illuminated. It’s on the far side of the Sun. 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 and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on October 8th, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 9th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
Low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, October 8th and 9th, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 10/01/2025 – Our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

October 1, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, October 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 41 minutes, setting at 7:22, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:42. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 1:55 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn rises before sunset in the east. It is the brightest star like object in the eastern to southeastern sky in the evening. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 1.5° from being edge on. Saturn has an axial tilt of about 27°, so it has seasons like the Earth and since its rings are over its equator, when they go edge on to the Sun, it is an equinox for it, which happened this past May. Earth, being close to the Sun, sees nearly the same thing. Now the ring angle for us will decrease to about a third of a degree by November 23rd before increasing. By 7 AM, Jupiter will appear high in the southeast, under the stars of Gemini. With brighter Venus low in the east.

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

Saturn in the east southeast at 9 PM tonight
Saturn in the east southeast at 9 PM tonight, October 1, 2025. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon tonight, October 1, 2025. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Venus and Jupiter are visible in the southeastern sky among the winter stars at 7 AM tomorrow morning.
Venus and Jupiter are visible in the southeastern sky among the winter stars at 7 AM tomorrow morning, October 2, 2025. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of the October 1, 2025, Saturn will be 19.4″ in diameter, but its rings, being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 45.2″. They are tilted 1.4° from being edge on. At 7 AM on the morning of October 2, 2025, Jupiter will be 37.1″ in diameter. Europa and Ganymede will be eclipsed by Jupiter then. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 11.0″, and be 91.4% illuminated. It’s on the far side of the Sun. 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 and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on October 1st, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 2nd. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, October 1st and 2nd, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 09/24/2025 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

September 24, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 24th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 3 minutes, setting at 7:35, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:33. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 8:27 this evening.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn now rises about sunset in the east. It was in opposition from the Sun last Sunday. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 1.7° from being edge on. Saturn has an axial tilt of about 27°, so it has seasons like the Earth and since its rings are over its equator, when they go edge on to the Sun, it is an equinox for it, which happened this past May. Earth, being close to the Sun, see nearly the same thing. Now the ring angle for us will decrease to about a third of a degree by November 23rd before increasing. By 6:30 AM Jupiter will appear high in the east-southeast, under the stars of Gemini. With brighter Venus low in the east below the star Regulus in Leo.

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

Saturn, low in the east, is below and a bit right of the Great Square of Pegasus
Saturn, low in the east, is below and a bit right of the Great Square of Pegasus, which stands on one corner at 9 PM tonight, September 24, 2025. Created using Stellarium.
Venus and Jupiter are visible in the east among the winter stars at 6:30 AM
Venus and Jupiter are visible in the east among the winter stars at 6:30 AM tomorrow morning, September 25, 2025. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of the September 24th 2025, Saturn will be 19.4″ in diameter, but its rings, even being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 45.3″. They are tilted 1.7° from being edge on. At 6:30 AM on the morning of September 25th 2025, Jupiter will be 36.4″ in diameter. Europa will be eclipsed by Jupiter starting 4:41 AM, Ganymede will disappear into Jupiter’s shadow at 12:15 AM, and reappear at 3:19 AM, only to dissappear behind the planet at 4:20 AM. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 11.3″, and be 90.0% illuminated. It’s on the far side of the Sun. 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 and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on September 24th, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 25th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, September 24th and 25th, 2025.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, September 24th and 25th, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 09/17/2025 – Taking a look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

September 17, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 17th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 7:49, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:25. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:44 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn now rises at 8:01 PM in the east. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 2° from being edge on. Saturn has an axial tilt of about 27°, so it has seasons like the Earth and since its rings are over its equator, when they go edge on to the Sun, it is an equinox for it, which happened in May. Earth being close to the Sun and moving, see nearly the same thing. Now the ring angle for us will decrease to about a third of a degree by November 23rd before increasing. By 6 AM Jupiter will appear above the brighter Venus in the Eastern sky and among the stars of Gemini. Venus and Jupiter will have the waning crescent Moon between them tomorrow morning.

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

Saturn, low in the east, below and a bit right of the Great Square of Pegasus, which stand on one corner. Created using Stellarium.
Venus, the waning crescent Moon and Jupiter are visible in the east among the winter stars at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning, September 18, 2025. Saturn is low in the west.
Venus, the waning crescent Moon and Jupiter are visible in the east among the winter stars at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning, September 18, 2025. Saturn is low in the west. Created using Stellarium.
The waning crescent Moon with earth shine.
The waning crescent Moon with earth shine on the morning of September 18, 2025. Not much detail can be made out in binoculars otherwise.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of the September 17th 2025, Saturn will be 19.4″ in diameter, but its rings, even being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 45.3″. They are tilted 2.0° from being edge on. On the morning of September 19th 2025, Jupiter will be 35.7″ in diameter. Europa is eclipsed by Jupiter, Io will begin its transit the face of Jupiter at 5:44 AM and will be nearly impossible to spot against the planet. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 11.5″, and be 88.8% illuminated. It’s on the far side of the Sun. 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 and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on September 17th, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 18th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, September 17th and 18th, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 09/16/2025 – NASA’s announcement of discovery that might be evidence for past life on Mars

September 16, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 27 minutes, setting at 7:50, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:24. The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 2:29 tomorrow morning.

Turning from the current crisis last week, NASA last Thursday, announced the detection of Martian elements and minerals that could have been associated with life, when Mars was more hospitable for life billions of years ago. This was discovered by the Perseverance Rover in a dry (of course) river valley in the delta, where the river once flowed into Jezero crater. Further chemical analysis will have to wait until samples of the rock are returned to the earth. Perseverance has made core samples of the rock in question, but the problem is the mission to retrieve the samples has yet to be fully defined and may be canceled. This is due to a change in strategy for NASA for the de-emphasis of science by the current US administration.

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

Mastcam-Z image mosaic of the Beaver
Falls workspace on sol 1217. The light-toned layered block contains the Cheyava
Falls natural surface target, the Apollo Temple abrasion and the Sapphire
Canyon core sample location. The Sapphire Canyon sample was collected
from approximately the same location as Cheyava Falls after analysis of the
target was completed. The darker-toned granular block contains
the Steamboat Mountain abrasion. Downhill is to the left on this image.
Mastcam-Z enhanced color RGB vertical projection mosaic from sol 1217,
sequence zcam09264, acquired at 110-mm focal length. Scale bar, 10 cm.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS. Caption edited from the September 11, 2025 Nature Article Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater, Mars.

Link to the article: Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater, Mars https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09413-0

Link to the paper: Hurowitz, J.A., Tice, M.M., Allwood, A.C. et al. Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater, Mars. Nature 645, 332–340 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09413-0

Categories: Ephemeris Program, NASA Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 09/10/2025 – Our weekly look at the naked-eye planets

September 10, 2025 Comments off

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 10th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 46 minutes, setting at 8:02, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:17. The Moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 9:14 this evening.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn now rises at 8:30 PM in the east. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 2¼° from being edge on. Saturn has an axial tilt of about 27°, so it has seasons like the Earth and since its rings are over its equator, when the go edge on to the Sun, it is an equinox for it, which happened in May. Earth being close to the Sun and moving, see nearly the same thing. Now the ring angle will decrease to about a third of a degree by November 23rd before increasing. By 6 AM Jupiter will appear above the brighter Venus in the eastern sky and among the stars of Gemini. Venus and Jupiter are joining the bright winter stars, a beautiful sight in the morning twilight.

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

Saturn and the Moon at 10 PM tonight
Saturn and the Moon at 10 PM tonight, September 10, 2025. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon tonight, September 10, 2025. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Venus and Jupiter are visible in the east among the winter stars at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning
Venus and Jupiter are visible in the east among the winter stars at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning, September 11, 2025. Saturn is off in the west-southwest. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of the September 10th 2025, Saturn will be 19.4″ in diameter, but its rings, even being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 45.2″. They are tilted 2.2° from being edge on. On the morning of the September 11th 2025, Jupiter will be 35.1″ in diameter. Earlier in the morning Io and its shadow will transit the face of Jupiter. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 11.8″, and be 86.9% 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 and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on September 10th, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 11th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, September 10th and 11th, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 09/09/2025 – 3I/ATLAS, a minority view

September 9, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 8:04, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:16. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 8:51 this evening.

Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is closing in on the planet Mars, which it will reach nearest to on October 1st. Some speculate, including one Harvard professor, that maybe it’s an alien probe. This object is much too slow to traverse the interstellar medium between stars with a biological crew, who are short-lived like us. More likely it would be crewed by robots run by artificial intelligence, like which we are beginning to perfect. 3I/ATLAS will not get very close to the Earth, but will get close to Mars. That got me to speculating, tongue in cheek of course, that being a machine intelligence they would be more interested in Mars. The reason being, that Mars is the only planet that’s entirely inhabited by robots, like themselves.

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

nterstellar object 3I/ATLAS aka C/2025 N1 (ATLAS) seen as it will pass Mars around October 1, 2025.
Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS aka C/2025 N1 (ATLAS) seen as it will pass Mars around October 1, 2025. Our best look at it then will come from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database.
Having a little fun: What if the AI robot on 3I/ATLAS was checking out Mars?
Having a little fun: What if the AI robot on 3I/ATLAS was checking out Mars? This is a Copilot produced image. I tried also with Grok. I could get neither robot to turn around and actually look at Mars.

Categories: Comet, Ephemeris Program, Interstellar visitor, Speculation Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 09/03/2025 – Our weekly look at the naked-eye planets

September 3, 2025 2 comments

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 8:15, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:09. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 3:04 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars is too close to the direction of the Sun to spot. This is the curse of trying to view evening planets, which are near the direction of the Sun in late summer and early fall, for us at higher latitudes. Saturn now rises at 8:58 PM in the east. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 2 ½° from being edge on. This angle will decrease to about a third of a degree by November 23rd before increasing. By 6 AM Saturn will be in the southwest. Jupiter will appear above the brighter Venus in the eastern sky and among the stars of Gemini. Venus and Jupiter are joining the bright winter stars, a beautiful sight in the morning twilight.

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

Saturn and the Moon at 10 PM tonight
Saturn and the Moon at 10 PM tonight, September 3, 2025. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon tonight, September 3, 2025. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Venus and Jupiter are visible in the east among the winter stars at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning
Venus and Jupiter are visible in the east among the winter stars at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning, September 4, 2025. Saturn is off in the west-southwest. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of the September 3rd 2025, Saturn will be 19.4″ in diameter, but its rings, even being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 45.1″. They are tilted 2.5° from being edge on. On the morning of the September 4th 2025, Jupiter will be 35.0″ in diameter. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 12.1″, and be 85.2% 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 and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on September 3rd, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 4th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, September 3rd and 4th, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 08/27/2025 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

August 27, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 8:27, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:00. The Moon, halfway from new to first quarter, will set at 10:02 this evening.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars is too close to the direction of the Sun to spot. This is the curse of trying to view evening planets, which are near the direction of the Sun in late summer and early fall, for us at higher latitudes. Saturn now rises at 9:27 PM in the east. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, a bit more than 3° from being edge on. This angle will decrease to about a third of a degree by November 23rd before increasing. By 6 AM Saturn will be in the southwest. Jupiter will appear above the brighter Venus in the Eastern sky And among the brighter winter stars. Mercury will be in line with Venus and Jupiter very near the horizon.

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

The Moon tomorrow morning, July 28, 2025. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Saturn is seen low in the east at 10:30 PM tonight
Saturn is seen low in the east at 10:30 PM tonight, August 27, 2025. Created using Stellarium.
Three of the four morning planets are visible in the east at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning
Three of the four morning planets are visible in the east at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning, August 28, 2025. Saturn is off in the southwest. Mercury may not actually be visible. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of the August 27th 2025, Saturn will be 19.5″ in diameter, but its rings, even being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 44.8″. They are tilted 2.7° from being edge on. On the morning of the August 28st 2025, Jupiter will be 34.1″ in diameter. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 12.5″, and be 83.4% illuminated. Mercury, too small to be shown here, is 5.9″ in diameter, and 77.1% illuminated. The ” 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 and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on August 27, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 28th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, August 27th and 28th, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 08/20/2025 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

August 20, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 8:39, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:52. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 4:41 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars is too close to the direction of the Sun to spot. This is the curse of trying to view evening planets, which are near the direction of the Sun in late summer and early fall, for us at higher latitudes. Saturn now rises at 9:55 PM in the east. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, a bit less than 3° from being edge on. By 6 AM Saturn will be in the southwest. Jupiter will appear above the brighter Venus in the Eastern sky And among the brighter winter stars. Venus is by far the brighter of the two planets. Mercury will be below the crescent Moon tomorrow morning.

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

Saturn is seen low in the east at 11 PM tonight
Saturn is seen low in the east at 11 PM tonight, August 20, 2025. It’s below the Great Square of Pegasus seen standing on one corner above and left of it. Created using Stellarium.
Three of the four morning planets are visible, along with the crescent Moon, in the east at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning, August 21, 2025.
Three of the four morning planets are visible, along with the crescent Moon, in the east at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning, August 21, 2025. Saturn is off in the southwest. Mercury will be visible for the next few days before it heads back toward the Sun. The Moon needed a bit of cosmetic surgery to have it show up better. Stellarium doesn’t handle real thin crescent moon images well at this small of a scale. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification.
Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the morning of the August 21st 2025, Saturn will be 19.1″ in diameter, but its rings, even being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here., and extend to 44.5″. They are tilted 2.9° from being edge on. Jupiter will be 33.6″ in diameter. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 12.9″, and be 81.4% illuminated. Mercury, too small to be shown here, is 7.0″ in diameter, and 49.9% illuminated. The ” 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 and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on August 20, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 21st.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on August 20, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 21st. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, August 20th and 21st, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,