Jupiter and Mars meet in an in depth conjunction the morning of Aug. 14. Uranus, seen with binoculars, isn’t proven however lies barely greater within the sky, close to the Pleiades. Credit score: Astronomy: Roen Kelly
The height of the Perseid meteor shower has been grabbing headlines this week, however there’s one other upcoming occasion seen tomorrow morning you gained’t need to miss: the shut conjunction of Mars and Jupiter. Within the pre-dawn sky of August 14, the 2 planets will blaze brightly within the constellation Taurus and stand simply 0.3° aside, lower than the width of the Full Moon within the sky.
The sight can be seen within the early-morning hours; the planets rise collectively within the east round 1 A.M. native daylight time and attain 45° in altitude within the hour earlier than daybreak. They seem in japanese Taurus, to the decrease left of the intense red giant star Aldebaran, which marks the Bull’s eye. They’re additionally beneath and to the left of the well-known Pleiades open cluster (M45).
The planets are vivid — Jupiter shines at magnitude –2.2, whereas Mars is magnitude 0.8. You gained’t want a telescope and even binoculars to seek out them, shining between the horns of the Bull. Nonetheless, it is possible for you to to zoom in on the pair with binoculars or a telescope if you want — and notably you probably have the latter accessible, it’s value a glance. Each planets will seem collectively inside the similar low-power subject of view even of a telescope, a surprising and weird sight.
Jupiter
By way of a scope, Jupiter’s disk stretches almost 37″, displaying off unbelievable element. Devices will present a number of alternating mild and darkish cloud bands, whereas the Nice Purple Spot ought to be seen notably for these within the japanese half of the U.S. because the planet is rising. The gas giant is flanked by its 4 largest moons: Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. Early within the morning, Callisto sits alone far to the planet’s west, with Io closest to the japanese limb, adopted intently by Europa, whereas Ganymede is farther east.
Along with the conjunction with Mars, there’s so much occurring round Jupiter this morning. Round 4:40 A.M. EDT, a small darkish spot will seem on the cloud tops of the japanese limb, transferring from east to west — that is Io’s shadow, with the moon following because it transits the planet beginning round 5:55 A.M. EDT. Earlier than that may occur, nevertheless, the darkish blot of Europa’s shadow may even seem, simply after 5:30 A.M. EDT. Io’s shadow slips off the western limb round 5:52 A.M. CDT (after dawn on the East Coast), adopted by Europa’s shadow round 6 A.M. MDT (after dawn within the Midwest) and Io itself about 5 minutes later. On the similar time, Europa is simply crossing in entrance of the planet from the east to start its personal transit, which observers on the West Coast can comply with by means of dawn.
Mars
In the meantime, Mars stands to Jupiter’s north; the Purple Planet will cross due north of Jupiter within the sky at 1 P.M. EDT, through the daytime within the U.S. When you look ahead to a number of hours this morning, you could possibly catch the refined eastward movement of the planet because it strikes in from Jupiter’s northwest. Though a lot nearer to Earth than Jupiter — Mars now stands 1.5 astronomical models (AU) away, versus Jupiter’s distance of 5.4 AU from Earth — it is usually bodily a lot smaller than Jupiter, and its disk accordingly spans simply 6″. (One AU is the common Earth-Solar distance.) When you had been to position Mars and Jupiter aspect by aspect, Jupiter would stretch greater than 22 instances as vast as Mars, which itself is just roughly half as vast as Earth.
As a result of Mars is so small, it’s troublesome to see floor options with out specialised gear and methods. These with massive scopes and video-capture capabilities, nevertheless, could possibly see the darkish smudge of the volcano Syrtis Main on the tiny martian disk.
Bonus planet: Uranus
Taurus is presently dwelling to 3 planets — the distant ice giant Uranus is in western Taurus, about 5° south-southeast of the Pleiades. As a result of it glows a faint magnitude 5.8, you’ll need binoculars or a telescope to identify it. The disk of Uranus is just below 4″ throughout, because of its nice distance (almost 20 instances the space of Earth from the Solar), and gained’t present any element. It would as a substitute seem like a small, “flat” grey star when in comparison with the background stars within the area.
A view you gained’t need to miss
Jupiter is presently approaching its finest apparition within the Northern Hemisphere in a decade, and the possibility to identify it near Mars is one you gained’t get once more till 2026. Plus, with the Perseids winding down and no Moon within the morning sky, you would possibly simply catch a higher-than-average variety of taking pictures stars streaking overhead whilst you’re observing.
It will likely be a good looking naked-eye scene that may reward early risers — make sure that to set your alarm!
Wednesday, August 14
Dawn: 6:11 A.M.
Sundown: 7:57 P.M.
Moonrise: 4:20 P.M.
Moonset: 12:18 A.M.
Moon Part: Waxing gibbous (70%)
*Occasions for dawn, sundown, moonrise, and moonset are given in native time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. native time from the identical location.
