07/01/2015 – Ephemeris – Jupiter, Venus and Saturn grace our evening sky

Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 1st.  Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 9:32.   The Moon, at full today, will rise at 8:58 this evening and tomorrow the Sun will rise at 6:01.

Lets take a look at the bright planets for this week.  Our brilliant evening star Venus and Jupiter are close together in the west by 9:45 p.m. They will set around 11:45 p.m..  Venus’ will slide down to the Sun faster and faster in the coming weeks leaving Jupiter behind for a while.  Venus will take a month and a half to slide past the Sun.  Jupiter though will take 2 months, so Venus will pass it again around August 4th when both are too close to the horizon and Sun to spot.   There’s a third conjunction of these two in October in the morning sky with Mars nearby.  Saturn is in the southeast in evening twilight.  It will pass due south at 10:53 p.m. and will set at 3:41 a.m.  Even small telescopes can see Saturn’s rings.

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

Addendum

The evening planets and the Moon at 10:30 p.m. July 1, 2015. Though their images overlap Jupiter is above right of Venus. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium. 

The evening planets and the Moon with their satellites to scale at 10:30 p.m. July 1, 2015. Created using Stellarium.

Mercury is officially in the morning sky now, but it is not a favorable appearance for northern hemisphere observers.