planets and clusters rise in darker sky

Event Date: July 4th
Time: 4:19(.56) AM

Brief

   Venus and Jupiter are now easily visible in the morning sky during nautical twilight, although they are already both high enough during the middle of astronomical twilight.  If you are either a night-owl or a very early bird, look towards the east-northeast at the time above.  If obstruction is minimal, brighter Venus is seen below Jupiter with a separation of 4.9º  As Venus begins its prograde motion with Jupiter still moving slowly in that direction, they stay at the same separation for a few days, and within binocular view of each other for several days.  As I showed last week, Venus has been visiting the Hyades star cluster since late last month. and for the first week or so of this one.  Above Jupiter is the Pleiades star cluster, which unarguably gets more attention than any other open cluster with its "Little Dipper" appearance; I talked about last month while it was starting to rise in the morning.  Here are both planets and clusters shown together, in image one.  They are unlabeled to see more clearly, low to the horizon.

Detailed

For the above image and the one to follow below, we see Jupiter and Venus at exactly the same azimuth, which is why I selected the above time: 72.2º  The Pleiades is just slightly to the right of these two, at azimuth 72.5º.  There is some coincidence to this alignment, given the different declinations of each planet: the Pleiades is a little further north of Jupiter which is north of Venus.  I will show the altitude/azimuth grid, with the celestial figures zoomed in.  By zooming, we see that Jupiter and Venus are the same separation from the line closest to it, and the Pleiades is almost the same separation.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.
Time: 4:19(.56) click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

   For a fun viewing project, watch Venus, Jupiter and the Pleiades as soon as Venus is visible above the horizon.   Do you notice the change in azimuth between then, as shown for this entry, and several minutes later?  What about altitude?  Tomorrow, I will show them an hour later and show that difference.