Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Friday, January 11th.  The sun will rise at 8:17.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 6 minutes, setting at 5:23.  The moon is new today, and won’t be visible.

The brightest star-like object in the evening sky is Jupiter high in the south around 9 p.m.  The second brightest star-like object is Sirius, also known as the Dog Star.  It also is the brightest night-time star in our skies period.  Tonight at 9 p.m. it’s located low in the south southeastern sky.  The Dog Star name comes from its position at the heart of the constellation Canis Major, the great dog of Orion the hunter.  The three stars of Orion’s belt tilt to the southeast and point to Sirius.  The name Sirius means ‘Dazzling One’, a reference to its great brilliance and twinkling.  Its Egyptian name was Sothis, and its appearance in the dawn skies in late June signaled the flooding of the Nile, and the beginning of the Egyptian agricultural year.

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

Addendum

Sirius, Jupiter and the winter stars and constellations at 9 p.m. Created using Stellarium.