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11/12/2013 – Ephemeris – Not one but four comets grace the morning sky now
Ephemeris for Tuesday, November 12th. The sun will rise at 7:35. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 5:17. The moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 3:19 tomorrow morning.
Comet ISON has competition in the morning sky now. There are actually three other comets within range of telescopes gracing our morning sky now. Comet ISON is still not brightening as predicted. It is still 2 to 3 times dimmer than predicted. Comet Encke is still brighter, Comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) discovered two months ago is almost as bright as ISON. It’s moving between Cancer and Leo now. C/2012 X1 (LINEAR) is the faintest of the four and a tough one to spot. It will appear to pass the bright star Arcturus a week from now. I’ll have finder charts for all these comets at bobmoler.wordpress.com with today’s transcript. Apparently the nucleus of ISON is still holding together.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
This is a busy chart with Comets ISON and Encke and Mercury for the period November 13th through 19th of November 2013 at 6 a.m. Created using Carts du Ciel.
Note that the star designated α is Spica, Alpha Virginis.
Comet Lovejoy and the constellation Leo for November 13th through 19th, 2013 at 6 a.m. Created using Cartes du Ciel.
Comet LINEAR track for November 13th through 19th 2013. Created using Cartes du Ciel.
The star designated α is Arcturus or Alpha Boötis. The brightest star is Boötes. Remember follow the arc of the Big Dipper handle to Arcturus.
The following are the latest magnitudes (brightnesses) recorded for these comets:
Comet Magnitude C/2012 S1 (ISON) 8 (1 magnitude dimmer than predicted) P2 (Encke) 8 C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) 6 (2.5 magnitudes brighter than predicted) C/2012 X1 (LINEAR) 8 (5 magnitudes* brighter than predicted) * 5 magnitudes brighter = 100 times brighter! Source is http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/CometMags.html. Search page using the C/???? ?? instead of name. Comets Lovejoy and LINEAR have multiple entries.
11/11/2013 – Ephemeris – D-Day and the moon
Ephemeris for Veteran’s Day, Monday, November 11th. The sun will rise at 7:34. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 44 minutes, setting at 5:18. The moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 2:12 tomorrow morning.
Veterans’ day used to be called Armistice Day, celebrating the end of War to End All Wars. There was, of course a great war after that, and its greatest battle was the invasion on D-Day, a date governed by the position of the Moon. The full moon on June the 6th, 1944 gave light for the gliders and paratroopers light to carry out their operations at midnight. Plus the high tides were near noon and midnight and the low tides near dawn. The idea was to hit the beach at low tide to enable the landing craft to operate without hitting the obstacles the Germans planted in the tidal zone. It was great for the landing craft, but the troops had a lot of open beach to cover to get to some sort of shelter.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 