Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Monday, September 16th.  The sun will rise at 7:22.  It’ll be up for 12 hours and 27 minutes, setting at 7:50.   The moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:15 tomorrow morning.

The moon is very bright tonight and almost painful to view through a telescope.  Remember that’s the full strength of the sun shining on it.  Be thankful that it reflects only about 11 percent of the sunlight that hits it.  Just thing how much brighter it would be if it was covered by Lake Michigan beach sand.  There is a bright spot on the moon now visible.  It just became visible today.  It’s a crater at the upper left of the moon that’s called Aristarchus after the ancient Greek Philosopher who came up with the sun centered solar system in the 3rd century BC.  Unfortunately all his writings have been lost.  We only have the comments from others of what he wrote.  The crater is the brightest spot on the moon.

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

Addendum

The location of Aristarchus on the moon at 9 p.m. September 16, 2013. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas.

The crater Aristarchus. Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute.