Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Thanksgiving Day  (US), Thursday, November 25th.  The sun will rise at 7:52.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 14 minutes, setting at 5:06.   The moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 9:04 this evening.

In the south at 9 this evening can be found a large square of stars, the Great Square of Pegasus the flying horse, flying upside down to the right.  What look like its hind legs stretching to the left from the upper left corner star is another constellation, Andromeda the chained maiden.  She is seen in the sky as two diverging curved strings of stars that curve upward.  She was rescued by the hero Perseus, a nearby constellation, riding his steed Pegasus.  Andromeda’s claim to astronomical fame is the large galaxy seen with the unaided eye just above the upper line of stars.  The Great Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years away.  To the unaided eye the galaxy appears as a small smudge of light.  In binoculars the galaxy is a delicate spindle of light.

* Times, as always are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.