Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Thursday, October 7th.  The sun will rise at 7:47.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 7:12.  The moon is new today, and won’t be visible.

There’s a bright star that appears for only seven and a half hours a night on autumn evenings.  It’s appearance, low in the south, is a clear indication of the autumn season.  At 9 p.m. tonight it’s low in the southeast.  The star’s name is Fomalhaut, which means fish’s mouth.  That fits because it’s in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the southern fish.  At our latitude it’s the fish that got away, because Fomalhaut appears to be quite alone.  The dimness of the constellation’s other stars and location close to the horizon make the fainter stars hard to spot.   They would be overhead in Australia.  The earth’s thick atmosphere near the horizon reduces the stars brightness by a factor of two or more, so Fomalhaut appears to keep a lonely vigil in the south.

Times are for the Grand Traverse Area of Northern Michigan, USA.