Archive
09/30/2014 – Ephemeris – Previewing October skies and events
Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 30th. The sun will rise at 7:39. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 7:24. The moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:43 this evening.
Let’s look at the skies for the month of October. The sun will still be moving south rapidly. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 11 hours and 42 minutes tomorrow to 10 hours, 14 minutes at month’s end. The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees tomorrow in the Interlochen area, and will descend to 31 degrees on Halloween. This month will see two eclipses visible from our area plus a close encounter that a comet will have near Mars and our assets on and around Mars. We will be able to see, weather permitting a total lunar eclipse in the morning a week from today, the 8th and a partial solar eclipse on the 23rd, just before sunset.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Star Chart for October 2014. Created using my LookingUp program.
The Moon is not plotted. The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 8 p.m. That is chart time.
Astronomical twilight ends at 9:00 p.m. on October 1st, decreasing to 8:11 on the 31st.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
Also shown is the Summer Triangle in red. Clockwise from the top star is Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra and Altair in Aquila.
The green pointers from the Big Dipper are:
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- The arc of the dipper’s handle points to Arcturus.
Information on the total lunar eclipse on the 8th will be posted starting Monday October 6th.
09/29/2014 – Ephemeris – The Moon, Mars and Antares will line up tonight
Ephemeris for Monday, September 29th. The sun will rise at 7:37. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 7:26. The moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 10:49 this evening.
Tonight we’ll still have Mars hanging around the star Antares. However we’ll have the Moon joining the party. The three will nearly be in line at 9 p.m. with the fat crescent Moon on top, Mars below it and Antares below Mars. They will be in a straighter line but the Sun out makes them impossible to see. With binoculars or a small telescope the lunar seas visible, kind of in order from the Moon’s sunlit edge are Crises, Fertility, Nectar, Tranquility and half of Serenity. If you’re looking for the Man in the Moon, you’ll have to wait until the Moon is nearly full to completely discern his face. However most of the upside down rabbit is visible. The seas of Fertility and Nectar make up his ears, Tranquility, his head, and Serenity his body.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Moon, Mars and the bright red star Antares line up on the evening of September 29, 2014. Created using Stellarium.
The moon tonight September 29, 2014. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas.
09/26/2014 – Ephemeris – Mars meets its rival
Ephemeris for Friday, September 26th. The sun will rise at 7:34. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 58 minutes, setting at 7:32. The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 8:45 this evening.
The planet Mars and the bright star Antares will appear at their closest tomorrow night. The name of the star Antares means “Rival of Mars”. “Ant” meaning anti, “Ares”, the Greek equivalent to the Roman god Mars. This is about a 26 month recurrence, give or take. Usually Mars is way brighter than Antares, or way dimmer. This time Mars and Antares are the same brightness. Both planet and star have the same color, kind of a faded orange color, made redder by being low in our sky which drains even more of the blue out. The reason Mars is red is that its surface is rusty. Antares is another matter. It is a cool red giant star. Well, cool on the outside by hotter than the sun’s interior on the inside where it’s changing helium into carbon and oxygen for power. Hint: Mars is always on top. Also tomorrow night the crescent Moon will be just to the right of Saturn.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
Mars appears its closest to Antares. Here seen low in the southwest at 8:30 p.m. on September 27, 2014. The Moon, near Saturn is too small to show a phase. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn with the crescent moon. Earthshine may still be visible on the three day old Moon’s night side. Created using Stellarium.
Acme Fall Festival
The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be at the Acme Fall Festival at Flintfields Horse Park on Bates Rd, North of M72, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday the 27th. The society will bring telescopes, including the 25 inch Dobsonian telescope and the Solar Telescope to view the Sun in white light and the light of the element hydrogen. There will also be exhibits and free stuff from NASA for the kids.
09/25/2014 – Ephemeris – Capella rising
Ephemeris for Thursday, September 25th. The sun will rise at 7:33. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 1 minute, setting at 7:34. The moon, 1 day past new, will set at 8:13 this evening.
A bright star called Capella has slowly been rising in the northeastern sky in the evenings for the past few months. At 9 p.m. now it is low in the north-northeast far below the letter “W” shaped constellation of Cassiopeia. This winter Capella will be overhead the highest of winter’s seven brilliant first magnitude stars. Capella never quite sets for anyone north of Ludington. It is what is called a circumpolar star. Due to its brightness, and being the closest first magnitude star to the north pole, Capella appears to move slowly as the earth rotates, and spends summer and autumn evenings close to the horizon, and has in years past elicited a few phone calls and other queries about that ‘bright object in the northeast’. When it’s higher the rest of its constellation Auriga the Charioteer will be visible.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Capella cruising up from the north (thanks to the Earth’s rotation) on September 25 at 9 p.m. Created using Stellarium.
09/24/2014 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 24th. The sun will rise at 7:31. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 4 minutes, setting at 7:36. The moon is new today, and won’t be visible.
Let’s take our weekly look at the bright planets. Mars and Saturn are in the southwestern sky at 9 p.m. with Saturn to the right and a bit below Mars by 17 degrees, about the two widths of your fist held at arm’s length. Saturn will set at 9:38 p.m. Saturn is in Libra, while Mars is in Scorpius. Mars is closing in on a star that has the identical color, and this year the same brightness, its rival Antares. Indeed that’s what the star’s name means: Ant as in anti, Ares the Greek god of war, and the counterpart of the Roman Mars. They will be closest Saturday. Mars will set at 10:13.. In the morning sky brilliant Jupiter will rise in the east-northeast at 3:23 a.m., while Venus, will rise in the east at 6:51 a.m. only 42 minutes before the sun. I’m not sure you’ll see it.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Saturn with Mars approaching Antares low in the southwest at 8:30 p.m. on September 24, 2014. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn in a telescope on September 24, 2014. Of the satellites, only Titan should be visible. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and the winter and the western most spring constellations at 6:30 a.m. on September 25, 2014. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and its moon through a telescope at 6:30 a.m. on September 25, 2014. Created using Stellarium.
09/23/2014 – Ephemeris – NASA’s MAVEN satellite is in orbit of Mars
Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 23rd. The sun will rise at 7:30. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 7:37. The moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:53 tomorrow morning.
Last Sunday evening the MAVEN spacecraft fired its six main engines in alternating pairs for 33 minutes and was captured by Mars, entering orbit around the Red Planet. MAVEN is one of those NASA acronyms, it stands for Mars Atmospheric and Volatile EvolutioN Once in a capture orbit, the orbit will be changed from a 33 hour orbit to a 4 ½ hour a science orbit. It will investigate how Mars lost its original atmosphere which was dense enough to support liquid water to the thin carbon dioxide atmosphere it has today. It has several duties October 19th when Comet Siding Spring passes Mars to detect the interaction of the comet’s atmosphere with that of Mars. There are no cameras* on Maven, just hard data will be returned.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
* Actually I was mistaken. There is an Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph aboard which will take images in the ultraviolet of Mars upper atmosphere.
Artist’s rendition of the MAVEN spacecraft in Mars Orbit. Credit: Lockheed Martin/NASA.
09/22/2014 – Epmemeris – Autumn begins tonight
Ephemeris for Monday, September 22nd. The sun will rise at 7:29. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 7:39. The moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 6:54 tomorrow morning.
Welcome to the last, almost full, day of summer. The Sun will reach the autumnal equinox point in the sky at 10:30 this evening. At that moment the Sun will cross the celestial equator, a projection of the Earth’s equator, heading southward. All locations on the earth except two will experience 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. Well they would if the Earth didn’t have an atmosphere and sunset and sunrise were defined differently. The two locations that don’t experience equal night, which is what equinox means, are the north pole where the sun will be setting and the south pole where the sun will be rising. For us in the northern hemisphere daylight hours will be shorter and the Sun will peak lower in the south each day until the December solstice.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Earth as seen from the direction of the Sun as it crosses over the Earth’s equator heading south. Created using Celestia.
09/19/2014 – Ephemeris – Astronomical events for Saturday local and far off
Ephemeris for Friday, September 19th. The sun will rise at 7:26. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 7:45. The moon, 4 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:59 tomorrow morning.
Saturday will be a big day for astronomical viewing, if it’s clear. Tomorrow’s events start early with the planet Jupiter just above and right of the thin crescent moon. They will be visible by 6 a.m. During the day the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be at the Leland Heritage Celebration. That runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on River Street in Leland. Weather permitting the Sun will be in view with some giveaway items for the kids even if it’s cloudy. At night starting at 9 p.m. will be a star party at Northwestern Michigan’s Rogers Observatory. Being the dark of the moon the wonders of the summer Milky Way will be in view if it’s clear. An alternate program will be presented if it’s cloudy.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Jupiter and the moon at 6 a.m. Saturday September 20, 2014. Created using Stellarium.
GTAS telescopes at Leland Heritage Celebration in 2011.
Arrrr! Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day mateys. Just in time for the Schooner tall ship Festival in Traverse City this weekend.
09/18/2014 – Ephemeris – The constellation Pegasus the aerobatic horse
Ephemeris for Thursday, September 18th. The sun will rise at 7:24. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 7:47. The moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:02 tomorrow morning.
Rising in the east at as it gets dark around 9 p.m. can be found one of the great autumn constellations: Pegasus the flying horse of Greek myth. Its most visible feature is a large square of four stars, now standing on one corner. This feature, called the Great Square of Pegasus, represents the front part of the horse’s body. The horse is quite aerobatic, because it is seen flying upside down. Remembering that fact, the neck and head is a bent line of stars emanating from the right corner star of the square. Its front legs can be seen in a gallop extending to the upper right from the top star of the square. From the left star extend, not hind legs but the constellation of Andromeda, a fascinating constellation in its own right.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Pegasus at 9 p.m. Chart created using Stellarium.
09/17/2014 – Ephemeris – It’s Wednesday, do you know where the bright planets are?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 17th. The sun will rise at 7:23. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 7:49. The moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 2:06 tomorrow morning.
Let’s take our weekly look at the bright planets. Mars and Saturn are now nearly side by side with Saturn to the right by 15 degrees, about the width of your fist and a half held at arm’s length. Saturn will set at 10:04 p.m. Saturn is in Libra, while Mars is entering Scorpius just above the star tonight called Dschubba. Mars is closing in to a star that has the identical hue, and this year the same brightness, its rival Antares. Indeed that’s what the star’s name means: Ant as in anti, Ares the Greek god of war, and the counterpart of the Roman Mars. They will be closest next week. Mars will set at 10:25. In the morning sky brilliant Jupiter will rise in the east-northeast at 3:43 a.m., while Venus, will rise at 6:30 a.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Looking southwest at Saturn and Mars with the stars of Scorpius and Libra at 9 p.m. on September 17, 2014. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn through a telescope. However being so low in the sky even the moon Titan might be hard to see. September 17, 2014. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon, Jupiter and Venus with some of the bright stars of winter and spring at 6:45 a.m. on September 18, 2014. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon at 6:45 a.m. on September 18, 2014. I doubt you’d see Earth shine (the rest of the Moon like this) with the crescent this wide. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter through a telescope. Europa is transiting in front of Jupiter at 6:45 a.m. and will be very difficult or impossible to spot. Stellarium shows that the shadow of Europa is just about directly behind the moon. Created using Stellarium.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 