Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

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.