Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Friday, June 3rd.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 9:21.   The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 11:07 this evening.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 5:59.

Those fascinating bits of rock and metal that fall from the sky, called meteorites will be the subject tonight as the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society holds its monthly meeting at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 8 p.m.  Society member Joe Brooks has a collection of these celestial visitors, and has visited area schools with his collection.  Meteorites, for the most part,  come from the asteroid belt, bits of a planet that was destroyed or never quite formed due to Jupiter’s disruptive gravitational influence.  He has one that may be part of the asteroid Vesta that the Dawn Spacecraft will visit this summer.  The observatory is located south of Traverse City, on Birmley Road  between Keystone and Garfield roads.

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