Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Thursday, December 9th.  The sun will rise at 8:07.  It’ll be up for 8 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 5:02, the earliest sunset of the year.   The moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 9:11 this evening.

On Tuesday morning we will have the chance to see the peak of the Geminid meteor shower.  Some of its members can be seen tonight, but the meteors will be most numerous on the morning of Tuesday the 14th.  This shower rivals the Perseid meteor shower of August.  The problem for us in viewing this fabulous shower is the cold temperatures and usually cloudy skies.  Another problem this year is the moon which will be at first quarter and will set at 1:19 a.m. Tuesday morning.  I’ll have more on Monday.  The source of the Geminids was discovered in 1983.  It is a burnt out comet with the asteroid designation 3200 and given the name Phaethon which swoops down to only 13 million miles of the sun.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.