Jupiter and Mars will be in close conjunction on the morning of August 14. Uranus, visible with binoculars, is not shown, but is located a little higher in the sky, near the Pleiades. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly
The peak of the Perseid meteor shower The Sun has been dominating the headlines this week, but there's another event coming up tomorrow morning that you won't want to miss: the close conjunction of Mars and Jupiter. In the predawn sky on August 14, the two planets will shine brightly in the constellation Taurus and will be separated by just 0.3° — less than the width of the full Moon in the sky.
The spectacle will be visible early in the morning; the planets will rise together in the east around 1:00 a.m. local time and reach 45° altitude an hour before dawn. They will appear in eastern Taurus, to the lower left of the bright red giant star Aldebaran, which marks the center of the globe. They will also be seen below and to the left of the famous Pleiades open cluster (M45).
The planets are bright: Jupiter shines at magnitude -2.2, while Mars is magnitude 0.8. You won't need a telescope or binoculars to find them, as they shine between the horns of Taurus. However, you'll be able to zoom in on the pair with binoculars or a telescope if you wish (and especially if you have the latter available, it's worth checking out). Both planets will appear together within the same low-magnification field of view, even with a telescope, a striking and unusual sight.
Jupiter
Through a telescope, Jupiter’s disk spans nearly 37″, displaying incredible detail. Instruments will show several alternating light and dark cloud bands, while the Great Red Spot should be particularly visible to those in the eastern half of the U.S. as the planet rises. The gas giant is flanked by its four largest moons: Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. In the early morning, Callisto lies alone far to the west of the planet, with Io closest to the eastern edge, followed closely by Europa, while Ganymede is farther east.
In addition to the conjunction with Mars, there’s a lot more going on around Jupiter this morning. Around 4:40 AM EDT, a small dark spot will appear in the cloud tops of the eastern edge, moving from east to west — this is Io’s shadow, followed by the moon as it transits the planet beginning at 5:55 AM EDT. Before that can happen, however, the dark spot of Europa’s shadow will also appear, just after 5:30 AM EDT. Io’s shadow will slide in from the western edge around 5:52 AM CDT (after sunrise on the East Coast), followed by Europa’s shadow around 6 AM MDT (after sunrise in the Midwest) and Io itself about 5 minutes later. At the same time, Europa is crossing in front of the planet from the east to begin its own transit, which observers on the West Coast can follow until sunrise.
Mars
Meanwhile, Mars lies to the north of Jupiter; the Red Planet will cross just north of Jupiter in the sky at 1:00 p.m. EDT, during daylight hours in the U.S. If you watch for several hours this morning, you might be able to catch the planet’s subtle eastward motion as it approaches from Jupiter’s northwest. Though much closer to Earth than Jupiter (Mars now lies 1.5 astronomical units (AU) away, compared to Jupiter’s distance of 5.4 AU from Earth), it is also physically much smaller than Jupiter, and its disk consequently spans only 6″. (One AU is the average distance between Earth and the Sun.) If you were to place Mars and Jupiter side by side, Jupiter would stretch more than 22 times as wide as Mars, which itself is only about half as wide as Earth.
Because Mars is so small, it's difficult to see surface features without specialized equipment and techniques. However, those with large telescopes and video-capturing capabilities may be able to see the dark spot of the Syrtis Major volcano on the tiny Martian disk.
Extra planet: Uranus
Currently, Taurus is home to three planets: Ice giant Uranus lies in western Taurus, about 5° south-southeast of the Pleiades. Because it shines at a faint magnitude of 5.8, you’ll need binoculars or a telescope to see it. Uranus’s disk measures just under 10 cm (4 inches) across, thanks to its great distance (nearly 20 times the distance from Earth to the Sun), and won’t show any detail. Instead, it will appear to be a small, “flat” gray star compared to the region’s background stars.
A view you won't want to miss
Jupiter is currently approaching its best Northern Hemisphere appearance in a decade, and the chance to see it near Mars won't come again until 2026. Plus, with the Perseids coming to a close and no Moon in the morning sky, you might catch a higher-than-average number of shooting stars while you're observing.
It will be a beautiful sight to behold and will reward early risers. Make sure to set your alarm!
Wednesday, August 14
Sunrise: 6:11 AM
Sunset: 19:57
Moonrise: 4:20 pm
Moonset: 12:18 am
Moon phase: Waxing gibbous moon (70%)
*Sunrise, moonset, and moonrise and moonset times are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. Moonrise and moonset times are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. Moonrise and moonset times are given in local time from the same location.
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