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01/03/2013 – Ephemeris – The Quadrantid meteor shower will peak this morning.
Ephemeris for Thursday, January 3rd. The sun will rise at 8:19. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:15. The moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 12:06 tomorrow morning.
This morning will see the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower. There’s still time to spot them before the sky brightens too much. It’s one of the better meteor showers of the year, except it occurs in the cold and not very clear skies of January. Meteor showers are generally named for the constellation from which they seem to come. Trouble is, there’s no such constellation of the Quadrant. Now, that is. There is a sextant and an octant, but no quadrant. All these instruments were used by navigators and astronomers to measure the altitude of stars and planets. The obsolete constellation of the quadrant was located near the handle of the Big Dipper and north of the kite shaped spring constellation of Boötes. The Quadrantids will be around for the next few mornings.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Quadrantid meteor shower radiant at 1:30 a.m.
01/02/2013 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 2nd. The sun will rise at 8:19. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 5:14. The moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:00 this evening.
Let’s check out the planets for this week. Mars can be seen low in the southwest. It will set at 7:07 p.m, two minutes later than last week because sunset times are increasing and Mars is starting to move northward. The sun will eventually catch up with it. Even before you can spot Mars, bright Jupiter will be visible in the east. Jupiter is located in the constellation of Taurus in the southeast in the evening. It will transit or pass due south at 10:14 p.m, and will set at 5:45 a.m. Jupiter is a wonderful sight in telescopes with its cloud bands and its moons which change positions each night. Saturn will be the next planet to rise at 3:10 a.m. in the east southeast. It’s located in eastern Virgo. Venus will rise at 6:52.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Note: The Quadrantid meteor shower will reach peak tomorrow morning. I will release tomorrow’s program about the meteor shower at noon today.
Addendum
Jupiter and the winter stars and constellations as seen at 9 p.m. on January 2, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and the winter stars and constellations at 7 a.m. on January 3, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 