10/10/2018 -Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets for this week?

Ephemeris for Wednesday, October 10th. The Sun will rise at 7:51. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 14 minutes, setting at 7:06. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 8:23 this evening.

Let’s look at the bright planets today. Three of them are visible in the evening sky. The brilliant Venus will be just too low to spot, setting 9 minutes after the Sun. The problem isn’t its separation from the Sun, but it is also south of the Sun’s path. Jupiter will be in the west-southwest as it gets dark. The big planet will set at 8:40 p.m. Saturn will start the evening low in the southwestern sky and will set at 11:05 p.m. Mars will be low in the south as the skies darken tonight. and is now 60.5 million miles (97.4 million km) away. Mars will be due south at 9:19 p.m., and it will set at 2:03 a.m. Mars is beginning to pick up speed moving eastward, crossing the constellation of Capricornus this month.

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

Addendum

The evening planets at 8:00 p.m. October 10, 2018. Click on image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.

The thin crescent Moon as it should appear tonight in binoculars. Created using Stellarium.

Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars with the same magnification at 8 p.m. Europa will be occulted by Jupiter at 8:25 p.m. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on October 10, 2018. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 11th. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.