Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Monday, October 17th.  The sun will rise at 7:59.  It’ll be up for 10 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 6:55.   The moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 10:25 this evening.  |    The stars of the autumn skies are replacing the summer stars from the east.  Look in the northeastern sky by 9 p.m. and you can find the W shaped constellation of Cassiopeia the queen.  Cassiopeia is so far north that it never sets for us in Michigan.  It is opposite the pole star Polaris from the Big Dipper.  There’s a dim star that appears above the middle star of the W which turns the W into a very crooked backed chair.  Above and left of Cassiopeia is a dim upside down church steeple shaped constellation of Cepheus the king.  The Milky Way flows through a corner of Cepheus and Cassiopeia toward the northeastern horizon and through the constellation of Perseus the hero, which kind of looks, to me, like a chicken, but that’s another story.

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

Addendum

The constellation Cassiopeia and its neighbors. Created using Stellarium.