Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Monday, July 1st.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:31.   The moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 2:11 tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:01.

Lets preview July’s skies. The sun, having reached its northern solstice, is beginning to slide southward again, at first imperceptibly, then with greater speed.  The daylight hours will decrease from 15 hours and 29 minutes today to 14 hours 40 minutes at month’s end.  The daylight hours will be slightly shorter south of Interlochen, and slightly longer to the north.  The altitude of the sun at local noon, when the sun is due south will decrease from 68 degrees tomorrow to 63 degrees at month’s end.  The sun will be a degree lower in the Straits area.  Despite the warmth, the earth will reach its greatest distance from the sun on Friday.  The planets Venus and Saturn will be our evening planets this month.

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

Addendum

The stars and planets, specifically for July 15, 2013 at 11 p.m.

The constellation abbreviations, names and bright star names are found here.

• The arrow from the pointer stars of the Big Dipper to Polaris the North Star, near the north celestial pole.
• Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to Arcturus.
• A Leaky Dipper drips on Leo
• Follow the spike to Spica.
• The Summer Triangle (in red)