Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Monday, August 29th.  The sun will rise at 7:01.  It’ll be up for 13 hours and 23 minutes, setting at 8:24.   The moon, 1 day past new, will set at 8:19 this evening.

As it gets dark this evening a bright reddish star will appear low in the south. It will appear to twinkle mightily.  It is not the planet Mars, which is now in the morning sky, but its rival the star Antares in Scorpius the scorpion.  The star’s name, Antares, notes the rivalry.  “Ant” means anti, while “Ares” is the Greek name for the Roman god Mars.  Antares literally means “Rival of Mars”.  Antares appears red due to its cool surface temperature of 3,600 Kelvin, much cooler than the sun’s 6,000 Kelvin, while Mars is red due to rust.  As Antares starts to set later in the evening its light will mass through more of earth’s turbulent atmosphere making it sparkle like a multicolored sparkler.  Antares spectacular twinkling has sparked more than a few calls about a strange light in the sky.

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