01/11/2018 – Ephemeris – This morning the Moon passes Jupiter and Mars

Jan 11. This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, January 11th. The Sun will rise at 8:18. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 5:23. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 4:19 tomorrow morning.

This morning the thin crescent Moon will be poised over Jupiter and Mars in the east southeast at 7 a.m. It will make a pretty sight for the eye and camera. I follow many amateur astronomers on Twitter with clearer skies than ours who take many great pictures of planetary conjunctions, the Moon and other wonders of the heavens.

There is space mission orbiting Jupiter right now. It doesn’t make great discoveries that shake up the astronomical world enough to make the national news. The Juno mission skims close and then away from Jupiter in order to ferret out its internal structure. It does contain a camera for the public that reveals the spectacular cloud formations of Jupiter’s polar cloudscapes.

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

Addendum

The Moon with Jupiter and Mars this morning January 11, 2018 at 7 a.m. Created using Stellarium.

Some of Jupiter’s clouds photographed by NASA’s Juno spacecraft.

Ride along with Juno on its 6th close encounter (perijove 6) with Jupiter.  Jove is another Roman name for Jupiter, by Jove!

Jupiter: Juno Perijove 06 from Seán Doran on Vimeo.