Moon, bright planets, bright open star clusters

Event Date: July 13th
Time: 5:00 AM


Brief

   *I revert back to double-section writing today with the detailed [section] to follow.*  There is alot to talk about with Venus and Jupiter still seen well together within most pairs of binoculars.  At 6.3º apart, the angle is still small enough to enjoy and higher in the sky now by the time that the Sun rises.  Since having our earliest Sunset of about 5:46 last month, our star now rises less towards the north and about 11 minutes later than it did that day.  That may not seem like much difference, yet it will become later faster as the Sun starts to lose declination faster late this month and into August.  Before we get ahead of ourselves too much with that in mind, let's look at the altitude of the two bright planets close the the Hyades star cluster, with the Pleiades northwest of them and the waning crescent Moon even further west.  Venus is 17º high and Jupiter 24º high, which is high enough to see above most hills and trees.

Detailed

Looking closer at Venus and the Hyades, let's zoom in and include the stick figure for the asterism: it appears that Venus--along with [star] Aldebaran--acts as an extension of the Hyades eastern limb of the "V" shape. 

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

As mentioned several times this season, Aldebaran is not part of the cluster, and of course we know that Venus isn't.  As for Jupiter, its prograde motion means that it is moving further from the Pleiades and closer to the Hyades.  The rate of pro-grade for Jupiter has been about the same as Venus' over the last couple of weeks, hence the close separation over that time.  Venus was in retrograde, went stationary after a fast "deceleration", and will accelerate in pro-grade throughout the rest of the time that it is on this west side of the Sun.  When it reaches superior conjunction in about 7 1/2 months, it will naturally be moving faster in pro-grade than the Sun, eventually on the east side of it again and an evening target again.