Archive
07/03/2015 – Ephemeris – Astronomy in the Grand Traverse Region tonight
Ephemeris for Friday, July 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:31. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 10:33 this evening and tomorrow the Sun will rise at 6:02.
Dr. David Penney will investigate the structure of the Milky Way at this evening’s meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at 8 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory. The Milky Way is the band of light we see in the sky especially on summer and winter evenings. But it is more than a band of dim stars, it is what we can see of the huge disk of maybe 200 billion stars with an embedded pin wheel structure. Everyone is welcome. Also at 9 p.m. there will be a star party at the observatory. The astronomical objects of the evening will be the planets Venus, Jupiter and Saturn and the Moon later in the evening. The observatory is located south of Traverse City on Birmley Road.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Dr. Penney has a Ph.D. in Physiology and Biochemistry, and is pretty much retired spending his time between Michigan in the summer and northern Florida in the winter, where he is a member of several astronomy clubs. He gives many talks there also.
07/02/2015 -Ephemeris – A belated preview of July’s skies
Ephemeris for Thursday, July 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 9:31. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 9:48 this evening and tomorrow the Sun will rise at 6:02.
Lets preview July’s skies a day late. Sorry, it’s been a busy week.. The sun, having reached its northern solstice, is beginning to slide southward again, at first imperceptibly, then with greater speed. The daylight hours will decrease from 15 hours and 30 minutes Today to 14 hours 44 minutes at month’s end. The daylight hours will be slightly shorter south of Interlochen, and slightly longer to the north. The altitude of the sun at local noon, when the sun is due south will decrease from 68 degrees Now to 63 degrees at month’s end. The sun will be a degree lower in the Straits area. Despite the warmth, the earth will reach its greatest distance from the sun on Monday the 6th. The range of the earth’s distance from the sun is 3 million out of 93 million miles.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Star Chart for July 2015. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The Moon is not plotted.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT. That is chart time. Note, Traverse City is located 1 hour 45 minutes behind our time meridian. To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Evening Astronomical twilight ends at midnight. EDT on July 1st, decreasing to 11:14 p.m. EDT on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 3:32 a.m. EDT on July 1st, and increasing to 4:42 a.m. EDT 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.
The green pointer from the Big Dipper is:
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- Drill a hole in the bowl of the Big Dipper and the water will drip on the back of Leo the Lion.
- Follow the arc of the Big Dipper’s handle to Arcturus
- Continue with a spike to Spica
- The Summer Triangle is shown in red
Calendar of Planetary Events
Credit: Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC)
To generate your own calendar go to http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html
Times are Eastern Daylight Time on a 24 hour clock. Some additions made to aid clarity.
Conjunctions like the Moon-Jupiter: 4.5° N means Jupiter will appear 4.5° north of the Moon.
Date Local Event
Time
Jul 01 We 02:48 Moon South Dec.: 18.4° S
01 We Venus: 42.4° E
01 We 22:20 Full Moon
05 Su 14:54 Moon Perigee: 367100 km
06 Mo 08:59 Aphelion: 1.0167 AU
07 Tu 20:07 Moon Descending Node
08 We 16:24 Last Quarter
12 Su 13:55 Moon-Aldebaran: 0.9° S
14 Tu 00:24 Moon North Dec.: 18.4° N
14 Tu 17:35 Venus-Regulus: 2.3° S
15 We 21:24 New Moon
18 Sa 13:34 Moon-Jupiter: 4.5° N
18 Sa 21:06 Moon-Venus: 0.5° N
21 Tu 07:02 Moon Apogee: 404800 km
21 Tu 15:32 Moon Ascending Node
23 Th 15:18 Mercury Superior Conjunction with the Sun
24 Fr 00:04 First Quarter
26 Su 04:43 Moon-Saturn: 2.4° S
28 Tu 10:23 Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower: ZHR* = 20
28 Tu 13:34 Moon South Dec.: 18.3° S
31 Fr 06:43 Full Moon
Aug 01 Sa Venus: 21.5° E
*ZHR – Zenithal Hourly Rate: Approximate number of meteors per hour when the shower radiant is at the zenith. For more information on this and other meteor showers in 2015 see the International Meteor Organization website calendar section: http://www.imo.net/calendar.
07/01/2015 – Ephemeris – Jupiter, Venus and Saturn grace our evening sky
Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 9:32. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 8:58 this evening and tomorrow the Sun will rise at 6:01.
Lets take a look at the bright planets for this week. Our brilliant evening star Venus and Jupiter are close together in the west by 9:45 p.m. They will set around 11:45 p.m.. Venus’ will slide down to the Sun faster and faster in the coming weeks leaving Jupiter behind for a while. Venus will take a month and a half to slide past the Sun. Jupiter though will take 2 months, so Venus will pass it again around August 4th when both are too close to the horizon and Sun to spot. There’s a third conjunction of these two in October in the morning sky with Mars nearby. Saturn is in the southeast in evening twilight. It will pass due south at 10:53 p.m. and will set at 3:41 a.m. Even small telescopes can see Saturn’s rings.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The evening planets and the Moon at 10:30 p.m. July 1, 2015. Though their images overlap Jupiter is above right of Venus. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
The evening planets and the Moon with their satellites to scale at 10:30 p.m. July 1, 2015. Created using Stellarium.
Mercury is officially in the morning sky now, but it is not a favorable appearance for northern hemisphere observers.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 