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10/04/2012 – Ephemeris – The lonely autumn star Fomalhaut
Ephemeris for Thursday, October 4th. The sun will rise at 7:44. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 7:16. The moon, 4 days before last quarter, will rise at 9:40 this evening.
There’s a bright star that appears for only seven and a half hours on autumn evenings. It’s appearance, low in the southeast at 10 p.m., is a clear indication of the autumn season. The star’s name is Fomalhaut, which means fish’s mouth. That’s fitting because it’s in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the southern fish. At our latitude it’s kind of the fish that got away, because Fomalhaut appears to be quite alone low in the sky. The dimness of the constellation’s other stars and location close to the horizon make the faint stars hard to spot. The earth’s thick atmosphere near the horizon reduces their brightness by a factor of two or more, so Fomalhaut, one of the brightest stars in the sky, keeps a lonely vigil in the south.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The bright star Fomalhaut all alone at 10 p.m. on October 4, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
Click image to enlarge.
10/03/2012 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Wednesday, October 3rd. The sun will rise at 7:43. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 35 minutes, setting at 7:18. The moon, 4 days past full, will rise at 8:59 this evening.
Let’s see how many bright planets we can find this week. Mars and Saturn now set too close to the sun to be easily seen in the evening sky. Both are in the west southwestern sky and very low in twilight. Saturn sets at 8:10 p.m., while Mars sets at 9:08. The planetary action moves to later in the evening and the morning. Jupiter, will rise at 10:09 p.m. in the east northeast. It is located in the constellation of Taurus. The last bright planet of the night is the morning star Venus which will rise at 4:13 a.m. also in the east northeast. Venus is now in Leo outshining the star Regulus next to it. The planets Venus and Jupiter and the winter constellations are a great sight for early risers. You can enjoy them without danger of frost bite.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Mars and Antares low in the southwest at 8:20 p.m. on October 3, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
Mars is moving towards Antares, whose name means Rival of Mars. They have the same color. Mars, though will be dimmed and will pass north of the red giant star.
Morning skies including Jupiter and Venus at 6 a.m. on October 4, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
Click on the image to enlarge.
10/02/2012 – Ephemeris – Two bright comets next year, maybe?
Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 2nd. The sun will rise at 7:42. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 38 minutes, setting at 7:20. The moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 8:23 this evening.
It looks like we’ll have possibly two comets to grace our skies next year. These are first time comets and there is trouble with predicting their brightness. We can make a guess when we see them far from the sun, but that doesn’t always pan out. The first comet to be seen will be Comet 201l L4, named PANSTARRS. It will reach its closest to the sun on April 17th. It was discovered with the Pan-STARRS telescope in Haleakala, Hawaii. It could optimistically be as bright as the star Vega. The second was Comet 2012 S1 ISON (I hope that’s how it’s pronounced) discovered on September 21st, 10 days ago. This comet has the added problem. On November 29th, 2013 it will pass a million miles from the center of the sun, and may not survive.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Here’s some information on these comets from Gary Kronk’s Cometography: http://cometography.com/current_comets.html
10-01-2012 – Ephemeris – Previewing October daylight changes
Ephemeris for Monday, October 1st. The sun will rise at 7:40. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 41 minutes, setting at 7:22. The moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 7:51 this evening. | Let’s look at the skies for the month of October. The sun will still be moving south rapidly. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 11 hours and 41 minutes today to 10 hours, 12 minutes at months end.. The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees today, and will descend to 31degrees on Halloween, also in the Interlochen area. The Straits area will have the sun a degree lower. Local noon, when the sun is due south will be about 1:30 p.m. in Interlochen. Sunrise times will increase all the way to 8:19 a.m. in Interlochen on the 31st. Sunset times will decrease from 7:22 p.m. today to 6:32 when the trick or treaters haunt our neighborhoods.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 