Bright Venus is moving quickly through Gemini, standing several degrees south of Pollux this morning, while the Moon crowds closer to Mercury.
By August 21, the Moon has moved near Mercury while Venus passes 7° south of Pollux in the east. Credit: Stellarium/USGS/Celestia/Clementine
- At 5 AM EDT, Venus will be located 7° south of Pollux in the constellation Gemini.
- Before sunrise, Venus, Jupiter, and a waning crescent Moon (3% illuminated) will be visible in the eastern sky, with Mercury positioned near the Moon in Cancer.
- Mercury’s apparent magnitude will be -0.3, brighter than surrounding stars but fainter than Venus and Jupiter.
- The open star cluster M44 in Cancer will be observable near Mercury, particularly before sunrise, using binoculars or a telescope.
Venus passes 7° south of Pollux at 5 A.M. EDT and the crescent Moon is now close to Mercury, preparing to pass 4° north of the solar system’s smallest planet at noon EDT.
Let’s start in Gemini, which rises first and sits higher in the eastern sky before sunrise. An hour before the Sun crests the horizon, Venus is readily visible in eastern Gemini as the brightest point of light in this part of the sky. It lies to the lower right of Pollux, the brightest star in the Twins, with 4th-magnitude Kappa (κ) Gem about halfway between them. Jupiter is still in central Gemini, the second-brightest light in the sky and located to Venus’ upper right.Â
To the lower left of this scene is Cancer, now hosting the delicate crescent Moon above Mercury. At magnitude –0.3, Mercury is now easy to spot — the faintest of the three planets but still brighter than any star in this region of the sky. The Moon is now just 4 percent lit, quickly approaching New. If you look through a telescope, you’ll see Mercury has gained a bit of ground from earlier in the week and is now exactly half-lit. M44 — still challenging in twilight — sits about 3° above Mercury this morning, and will make a great target with binoculars or a telescope, especially earlier, before the sky grows too bright.Â
Sunrise:Â 6:17 A.M.
Sunset:Â 7:48 P.M.
Moonrise:Â 4:16 A.M.
Moonset:Â 7:16 P.M.
Moon Phase:Â Waning crescent (3%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.
For a look ahead at more upcoming sky events, check out our full Sky This Week column.Â
