10/14/2013 – Ephemeris – Columbus greatest and luckiest mistake
Ephemeris for Columbus Day, Monday, October 14th. The sun will rise at 7:56. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 2 minutes, setting at 6:59. The moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 4:12 tomorrow morning.
Today we celebrate Christopher Columbus’ big mistake. Mistake? Yes, mistake. Back in 1492 anyone with any education at all knew the earth was round. It was known since the Greek mathematician and geographer Eratosthenes calculated the circumference in the 3rd century BC. Columbus error was in misjudging its size. Columbus though the earth was only 18 thousand miles in circumference, which would put the east coast of Asia 3,000 miles west of the Spanish coast. Most academics held the circumference was nearer 25,000 miles, the correct value, putting Asia some 10,000 miles out. Columbus was very lucky that there was a continent in between. The native peoples, however, were not so lucky.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 
do u have an Australian version? it’s 7;00 the sun is already up!
Hi,
Ephemeris times are very local. Note the disclaimer at the bottom of each post. When I started this program Interlochen Public Radio had one transmitter and a fairly limited range. Today with satellite transmitters the coverage area extend perhaps 200 miles along a southwest to northeast direction. I really possibly cannot cover the event times for all those locations accurately, when errors can be as much as 15 minutes. Australia, or rather your specific location in Australia is way away from that box. Here’s a web page you can go to to calculate sun and moon rise and set times for your location: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php.
Clear skies.
Bob