Morning Beaver Moon, Venus, Jupiter approach opposition

November 27, 2023: Bright Moon reaches its full phase before sunrise. Venus-Jupiter gap expands towards 180° – opposition.

Image caption – 2023, August 30: Perigee Blue Moon (Photo by Tim S.)

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Jeffrey L. By Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:54 am CST; Sunset, 4:22 pm CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory MICA computer program.

Summaries of current celestial events
A summary of Venus as a morning SThar, 2023-24

Here is today’s planetary prediction:

morning sky

Chart Caption – 2023, November 27: The Beaver Moon is in the west before sunrise near Aldebaran.

November’s full moon, known as the Beaver Moon, reaches opposition with the Sun at 3:16 a.m. CST, the official time of full phase. The entire side of the Moon that faces Earth is illuminated by sunlight.

At one hour in the morning, the Moon is about 15° up in the west-northwest, 9.6° to the right of Aldebaran, the bright star Taurus, and 5.3° to the upper left of the Pleiades constellation. Use binoculars to see clusters with the moon.

A Venus-Jupiter opposition occurs on December 10^Th. Jupiter Venus rises this morning and they are not visible in the sky at the same time for the remainder of the opposition. In late May, there is a close conjunction of the two planets, but this occurs much closer to the Sun. Currently, the planets are nearly 165° apart and low in the sky when visible at the same time. Three hours before dawn, both planets are 8° above their horizon. Jupiter is in the west and Venus is in the east-southeast.

Chart Title – 2023, November 27: Venus approaches Spica in the southeast before dawn

An hour before sunrise, brilliant Venus is less than 30° to the southeast and 4.9° to the upper left of Virgo’s bright star Spica. Venus transits Spica in a broad conjunction on two mornings. After this event, Venus continues to step eastward, toward Jubenelgenubi, the northern claw of the Scorpion, nearly 24° to the planet’s lower left. The star is more than 5° above the horizon.

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Mars rises fifteen minutes before sunrise and is lost in sunlight.

evening sky

Chart Title – 2023, November 27: Jupiter is in the east after nightfall.

Mercury is less than 10° southwest at sunset. The planet sets sixty-three minutes after the Sun. At 45 minutes after sunset, Mercury is less than 3° below the horizon.

An hour after sunset, the bright moon, 99% illuminated, is less than 10° above the east-northeast horizon.

Jupiter is almost 40° to the upper right of the Moon, more than 25° above the eastern horizon. The planet retrogrades in front of Aries, 11.3° to the lower right of the constellation’s brightest star, Hamal, and 13.3° above Mengar. Jupiter lies to the west of the imaginary line between this pair of stars.

Chart title – 2023, November 27: Saturn is in the south after sunset.

Look south at Saturn at 35° above the southern horizon. It moves eastward before Aquarius, 7.2° to the upper left of Deneb Algedi, the tail of Capricorn. The ring wonder and the star fit tightly together in a single telescope view.

Find Fomalhat, the mouth of the southern fish, almost 20° to the lower left of the planet.

Two hours after sunset, the Moon is nearly 20° up in the east, 9.5° to the upper left of Aldebaran and 9.2° to the upper right of Elnath.

Capella, the third brightest star in the northern sky, is more than 20° to the upper left of the Moon.

Saturn sets before midnight. Jupiter is low in the western sky when Venus rises. The moon is in the west before sunrise tomorrow.

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