08/03/2022 – Ephemeris – Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:05, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:32. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 11:56 this evening.

Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week. All but one of the naked-eye planets are in the morning sky, That one is Mercury, too close to the Sun to be seen in the evening. At 5:30 tomorrow morning, the planets will be spread out from brilliant Venus low in the east-northeast to Saturn in the southwest. Mars will be a lot higher than Venus in the southeast. Jupiter is farther to the right in the south. Mars is dimmer than Jupiter, but is slowly getting brighter as the Earth creeps up on it. Saturn ends the line of planets much lower than Jupiter in the southwest. Tonight, Saturn will rise about 9:33 pm in the east-southeast, though it won’t be an official evening planet until it rises before sunset, which is 11 days away.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The annotated Moon for 10:30 this evening, August 3, 2022. Labels are centered on the feature they name. The crater Theophilus isn’t as prominent as it would have been 12 hours earlier, when it was nearer the terminator, the sunrise line. Search for it in the box above, right on this page, where I have more to say about it. It’s one of my favorite craters. Created using Stellarium, Libreoffice Draw, and GIMP.

Morning planets at 5:30 am tomorrow, August 4, 2022. With summer almost half over, the bright winter stars begin to appear in morning twilight along with the planets. Click on the image to enlarge it. The span of the planets from Venus to Saturn is 148 degrees. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium.

Views of Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope, with the same magnification, tomorrow morning at 5:30 am, August 4, 2022. I do not show planets less than 10 seconds of arc in diameter. Apparent diameters: Saturn 18.73″, its rings 43.63″; Jupiter 45.54″. Mars is not shown, its apparent diameter is 8.41″, 84.7% illuminated; Venus 10.64″, 93.2% illuminated. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on August 3, 2022. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 4th. Notice that all the naked-eye planets except Mercury are in the morning sky now. That’s about to change in a week and a half, when Saturn moves into the evening sky when it reaches opposition from the Sun on the 14th. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.