Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 26th.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:31.   The moon, at first quarter today, will set at 1:09 tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 5:59.

The planet Saturn appears above the bright blue-white stars Spica now.  The moon to the right of then tonight will pass below them Thursday morning.  Saturn is a wonderful sight in a small telescope and it’s largest satellite Titan will appear as a star nearby.  The latest news about Titan concerns a lake of liquid methane located in the equatorial regions of that moon.  The equatorial region seems too warm to support such a lake.  At the poles, yes as we have seen, but not at the equator.  The guess now is the that lake is fed from an underground aquifer.  With its atmosphere, clouds, lakes, rains, rivers and hilly terrain Titan is a spooky analog of the earth that’s 300 degrees colder.

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

Addendum

Seeing through the clouds at Titan’s surface. Credit: NASA – Cassini