04/24/2014 – Ephemeris – Venus and the Moon in the morning

Ephemeris for Thursday, April 24th.  The sun rises at 6:43.  It’ll be up for 13 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 8:38.   The moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 4:39 tomorrow morning.

The planet Venus will be hanging with the moon for the next two mornings.  Tomorrow morning the crescent Moon will appear to the right and above Venus.  The planet will rise at 5:13, though it should be high enough to spot by 5:30 or 5:45 a.m.  in the east.  Saturday morning the crescent moon will be to the left of Venus.  The moon will be passing Venus about 5 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.  Parts of Asia will get a good look at that.  We’ll get before and after shots of it.  Viewing the moon and planets near the sun is easy or hard depending on the season.  For the best views its generally late winter and spring evenings and late summer and autumn mornings.  It’s the wrong time of year for easy Venus viewing.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Venus and the Moon on two consecutive mornings 04/25/14 and 04/26/14 at 6 a.m. The yellow line is the ecliptic which is the path of the Sun in the sky. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).