Sun rises at 6:42am
Sun sets at 5:46pm
Moon phase: Super Full Moon
Moon rises at 3:38pm, Saturday
Moon sets at 4:45pm, Sunday
As 2017 draws to a close, three bright planets are lined up across the eastern sky before sunrise: Jupiter, Mercury and Mars. The best time to view these beauties is 5:15 to 5:30am.
In order from the horizon upward, these worlds are: surprisingly bright Mercury, dazzling Jupiter and modesty-bright Mars. If you draw an imaginary line from the red planet Mars through the king planet Jupiter you will find Mercury, the solar system’s innermost planet, near the sunrise point on the horizon. It’s quite a distance from Jupiter to Mercury, and as you extend your line, you’ll pass the bright star Antares in the constellation Scorpio. With good binoculars you should see that Mercury is not only a planet, but that only half of its sphere is currently lit up, similar to a half-moon and for the same reason.
Technically, all five of the so-called bright planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - reside in the morning sky right now. By bright planet we mean any planet that can be seen without an optical aid and which has been observed by our ancestors since time immemorial. Mercury, Jupiter and Mars are easy to see, but Venus and Saturn sit so close to the glare of sunrise that – while technically up before the sun – they aren’t presently visible.
Day by day, Venus will sink sunward while Saturn will climb upward toward Mercury. Venus will transition over to the evening sky on January 9, 2018. Venus will be close to the sunset in January, though, and you might not actually see Venus until February 2018.
New Year’s Eve has the glory of a Super Full Moon to enhance your late night escapades, so while we don’t have our normal fireworks displays, we can still ooh and aah over the moon and the stars. Happy 2018 to all our readers.
Thank you for keeping up with the Night Sky articles. If you are out later on in the week, each star rises about four minutes earlier each day than written here, and the moon rises 50 minutes later. Night Sky is researched and compiled by Lisa Davis-Burnett. Earthsky.org is a key resource for information and images. Questions or comments? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
