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12/04/2013 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, December 4th. The sun will rise at 8:02. It’ll be up for 9 hours even, setting at 5:02. The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 7:15 this evening.
Let’s see where the bright planets are this week. Venus is brilliant in the southwest after sunset. It will set at 7:51 p.m. The thin crescent moon will be to the right and a bit below Venus tonight. Venus is itself a crescent, and we’re coming to the point where the crescent can be visible in binoculars. Venus is as close to us now as the debris from Comet ISON will ever get to us. The giant planet Jupiter will rise at 7:31 p.m. in the east northeast. It’s cruising against the stars of Gemini now. It will pass due south at 3:08 a.m. Mars will rise at 1:31 a.m. in the east. Reddish Mars is midway between Regulus in Leo and Spica in Virgo. Saturn will rise at 5:47 a.m. and should be visible low in the east south east by 6:30.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus and the Moon in the southwest at 6 p.m. on December 4, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon magnified at 6 p.m. on December 4, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Venus as seen in a telescope at 6 p.m. December 4, 2013. The crescent will be blindingly bright with no detail. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and some winter constellations at 9 p.m. on December 4, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and its moons as seen in a telescope at 9 p.m. December 4, 2013. The orientation may be rotated or even mirror image. Created using Stellarium.
Mars, Saturn and the ghost of Comet ISON at 6:30 a.m. on December 5, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
12/03/2013 – Ephemeris – Orion rises
Ephemeris for Tuesday, December 3rd. The sun will rise at 8:01. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 1 minute, setting at 5:03. The moon, 1 day past new, will set at 6:07 this evening.
At 9 p.m. the constellation of Orion the giant hunter will be rising in the east southeast, with its belt stars nearly vertically aligned. The belt stars are contained within a tilted rectangle of four bright stars that’s leaning to the left. The brightest of the top stars is Betelgeuse a bright red star about the hue of the planet Mars. It’s a huge red giant star. Both top stars are Orion’s shoulders. The other shoulder star is Bellatrix. The bottom stars are Orion’s knees. The brightest, diagonally opposite from Betelgeuse is Rigel, a bright blue-white giant star. The other knee star is named Saiph. Orion is home to a beautiful nebula or cloud of gas, which we’ll explore later this winter. Jupiter is the bright stellar looking object to the left of Orion.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Orion Rising and other winter constellations at 9 p.m. December 3, 2013. Created using Stellarium
12/02/2013 – Ephemeris – Comet ISON: RIP (Rest In Pieces)
Ephemeris for Monday, December 2nd. The sun will rise at 8:00. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 2 minutes, setting at 5:03. The moon is new today, and won’t be visible. | I had originally intended to spend today’s program explaining how to view Comet ISON this week. That’s not to be. What can we say to Comet ISON but “Rest in Pieces”. It looks like going in to perihelion last Thursday, its closest point to the sun, ISON finally exhausted all its ices, the glue that holds all its rock and dust together. Coming out from perihelion there was a dense knot of material that gave us hope against hope that the comet survived. But alas the material spread out and got dimmer, what tail there was was definitely a dust tail, no fast moving ion tail from gas could be seen. What will be seen in the morning sky this week will probably be below naked eye visibility, but of great interest to professional astronomers.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
This is a video made from The STEREO Ahead Coronograph 2 camera of Comet ISON passing the sun.
The current positions of the Earth, Sun and STEREO Ahead (A) and STEREO Behind (B) spacecraft. Credit NASA/STEREO.
Here’s Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer‘s take on it. Besides the video above he put together another video from the SOHO LASCO C3 imager.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 