February 17, 2023: Earlier than dawn, a skinny crescent moon is seen above the southeastern horizon. After sundown, Venus, Jupiter and Mars seem.
By Jeffrey L Hunt
Chicago, IL: Dawn, 6:44 a.m. CST; Sundown, 5:26 p.m. CST. Test native sources for dawn and sundown occasions in your location. Occasions calculated from the US Naval Observatory mica Laptop program.
Transit occasions of Jupiter’s Nice Crimson Spot, when it’s within the heart of the planet within the Southern Hemisphere: 4:30 UTC, 14:26 UTC; February 18, 0:22 UTC. Convert the time to your timezone. Within the US, subtract 5 hours for EST, six hours for CST, and so forth. Use the telescope to see the spot. occasions of Sky and telescope journal.
Saturn conjunct as we speak on the other facet of the solar in its planetary orbit. Daylight floods the view. By concerning the time of the equinox, the ringed wonderland climbs out of the brilliant blush of morning twilight into the japanese sky.
Listed below are the forecasts for as we speak’s planet:
morning sky
This morning, the gorgeous crescent moon is low within the southeast at 45 minutes earlier than dawn. The moon is just 11% illuminated and stands 5 levels above the horizon. Search for a transparent horizon on this route.
That is the final morning throughout this lunar cycle to see the brightness of the Earth within the night time a part of the moon. Daylight mirrored from Earth’s oceans, clouds and land gently illuminates the lunar night time.
Over the previous 24 hours, the orb has moved eastward throughout the teapot in Sagittarius to its higher proper. It has obscured or obscured two of the brighter stars. Skywatchers in New Zealand noticed it cowl Phi Sagittarii and Tau Sagittarii from the Indian Ocean area by means of central Africa.
The moon is within the new part on the 20 thy It is 1:06 a.m. CST, lunar starting 1239, the variety of lunar cycles since 1923.
When the moon reappears as a night crescent moon, it seems together with Venus and Jupiter, making for a stupendous sight within the night sky. don’t miss it.
Mercury continues to slip into morning twilight. It rises 46 minutes earlier than dawn, across the time of the morning chart as we speak. By the point it’s excessive sufficient to see simply, the approaching daybreak mild is brighter than the planet.
After photo voltaic conjunction yesterday, Saturn is technically west of the solar, but it surely’s misplaced within the solar’s radiance. We’ll see it rise earlier than the solar in a couple of month.
night sky
Get out about 45 minutes after sundown. Vibrant Venus and Jupiter shine from west to southwest. The night star is 15 levels above the horizon, with Jupiter 12.3 levels to its higher left.
Venus, after its tremendous conjunction on October 22, 2022, is slowly climbing into the night sky. Jupiter is heading into its photo voltaic conjunction on April eleventhy. In opposition to the starry background, the planet Venus eclipses the large Jovian. Venus strikes eastward quicker than Jupiter, and slowly strikes eastward forward of Cetus.
On three evenings, Venus strikes to a distance of 10 levels from Jupiter. On the evenings of the twenty firstSt and 22Abbreviation IIThe crescent moon joins them, making for a picturesque scene.
Venus and Neptune are nonetheless in the identical discipline of view after their conjunction. The outermost planet is dim and reddish in mid-twilight, making it tough to see. If you have not seen it, strive one other night.
With Venus within the higher left within the discipline, at about 11 o’clock, Neptune is within the heart of the sphere, 3.0 levels to the decrease proper of Venus. The chart reveals a a lot brighter Neptune than it’s within the sky. This can be a tough observe.
The third brilliant planet, Mars, is to the southeast, above the winter star cluster. It runs east in entrance of Taurus, 9.4° to the higher left of Aldebaran and eight.3° to the decrease proper of Elnath.
The pink planet passes between the horns of Taurus on March eleventhy.
At 6:22 p.m. CST, when Jupiter is just under 30 levels west-southwest, the planet’s Nice Crimson Spot might be heart stage within the planet’s southern hemisphere by means of a telescope. On this look, Jupiter’s satellite tv for pc Io seems barely above the spot. Its shadow is way east on the cloud tops.
Relying on sky readability, comply with the pink dot, Io, and shadow till about 7:45 p.m. when Io strikes previous Jupiter and the spot disappears from Jupiter’s speedy rotation. By then, the planet was solely 10 levels increased within the sky than Chicago. Skywatchers within the western United States can see the planet increased within the sky and in cleaner air.
Probabilities of seeing Jupiter in clear air and in darkish skies rapidly finish for this planetary look. It will get higher when Jupiter reappears within the morning sky later within the 12 months.