Saturn in Sun's glare, Venus still high

Event Date: October 28th

Time: 7:30 AM

Brief

   Although Saturn is just starting to emerge from the Sun as a morning "star", it is worth mentioning the ringed wonder anyway, for what is to come.  Venus, which has been west of the Sun since immediately following its June transit, is gradually coming back towards the Sun, approaching superior conjunction early next year.  Saturn, rising about four minutes earlier each day, will quickly approach Venus for an impressive conjunction late next month.  Until then, the impressive geometry of the morning, eastern sky means that Saturn will become north of the Sun quickly for the next several weeks.

Here are the two planets, as Saturn is still in the Sun's glare yet labeled.  The orbits and ecliptic show as well.

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

Detailed

   Currently, Saturn and the Sun are about a little over 32º separated, and that will change by a little over a degree on average, between now and the planets' closest encounter.  Between now and then, we can anticipate Saturn becoming visible to the eye in about 2 weeks.  Since the Sun is rising later by a little less than a minute a day during the next few weeks, that means that we will see Saturn an extra 4-5 minutes before it each day once visible enough to see; the exact timing depending on what time of late October/November we are talking about, since the earliest Sunset is currently only about 6 weeks away.  As the Sun continues to move further south, it also means that we have more dark minutes overall to see stars in the sky, and a longer time to see Venus.  It is a result of this, as Venus slowly moves towards the Sun in separation, that for Sunrise over the next few weeks, we see Venus at about the same altitude each day.  As Sunrises start to rise earlier again gradually in mid-January, coupled with a much poorer geometry of the eastern sky, Venus will be seen much lower.  Until then, admire it at about magnitude -4, between now and early February, easily visible.