Archive
09/18/2015 – Ephemeris – Saturn and the Moon together tonight and tomorrow a big day for the GTAS – It starts with the Leland Heritage Celebration
Ephemeris for Friday, September 18th. The Sun will rise at 7:24. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 23 minutes, setting at 7:48. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 10:40 this evening.
Tonight the planet Saturn will appear left of and a bit below the crescent Moon. Saturn will be visible in the evening sky for 2 and a half more months with about a month where it’s high enough to see clearly in telescopes. There are two local astronomical events tomorrow. Tomorrow the Leland Heritage Celebration will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Fish Town in Leland. The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be there to show the Sun through member’s telescopes and give out NASA items for the kids. Then a few hours later the crew will be on Front Street in Traverse City for the International Observe the Moon Night starting at 7 p.m. Both events are weather dependent. Rain will affect the Leland event and clouds the evening one.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Saturn and the Moon at 9 p.m. September 18 from Northern Michigan. Created using Stellarium.
GTAS telescopes at Leland Heritage Celebration in 2011.
09/17/2015 – Ephemeris – International Observe the Moon Night is Saturday
Ephemeris for Thursday, September 17th. The Sun will rise at 7:23. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 7:50. The Moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 10:04 this evening.
The annual International Observe the Moon Night will be observed this Saturday evening. Members of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be stationed on the north side of the 200 block of East Front Street. Starting at 7 p.m. near Orvis Streamside and will be moving our telescopes eastward from time to time to keep up with the westward sinking motion of the Moon over the single story buildings to the south as long as we can. The moon will be a fat crescent with lots of detail visible in telescopes. The society will also have some giveaway items from NASA for the young and not so young. The event will be canceled due to heavy overcast or other inclement weather.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The information above is for our local location (northwestern lower Michigan). To find the location of the International Observe the Moon Night event near you go here. There’s even a downloadable Moon map for the evening here.
The Moon at 9 p.m. September 19, 2015 (Observe the Moon Night for the Eastern Daylight Time zone. Created with Virtual Moon Atlas.
09/16/2015 – Ephemeris – Looking for Saturn in the evening and Venus, Mars and Jupiter in the morning
Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 16th. The Sun will rise at 7:22. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 7:52. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 9:32 this evening.
Lets look for the bright planets for this week. Saturn is alone in the evening sky spotted by 9 p.m. low in the southwestern sky near the bright star Antares to its left. Antares has a reddish hue, while Saturn is brighter and yellowish. Both these colors are enhanced by being low to the horizon. Saturn will set at 10:39 p.m. The rest of the planet action has moved to the morning sky. Venus, the morning star, will rise at 4:42 a.m. a bit north of east. Much dimmer Mars will rise at 4:48 a.m. in the east-northeast. Jupiter is beginning to be visible in the morning sky and will rise at 5:57, almost an hour before the Sun. Mercury, though in the evening sky, sets too soon after the Sun to be visible.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Saturn and the Moon with the Sagittarius teapot pouring its tea on the tail of Scorpius at 9 p.m. September 16, 2015. Created using Stellarium.
The moon as it might be seen in binoculars at 9 p.m. September 16, 2015. Created using Stellarium.
What Saturn and its moons might appear like in a telescope at 9 p.m., September 16, 2015. Small telescopes will show only the moon Titan. Created using Stellarium.
Venus, Mars and Jupiter with the star Regulus in morning twilight at 6:30 a.m. September 17, 2015. Created using Stellarium.
Venus through a telescope – September 17, 2015. Created using Stellarium.
This is a chart showing the sunrise and sunset skies for September 16, 2015 showing the location of the planets and the Moon at that time. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on the image to enlarge.
09/15/15 – Ephemeris – Not another hoax again: This one’s a supposed asteroid collision
Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 15th. The Sun will rise at 7:21. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 7:53. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 9:02 this evening.
There is a bogus prediction from the Internet that been circulating for a month or so. I missed it until a couple of days ago because I visit reputable astronomical web sites. I check near earth asteroids on spaceweather.com, and there is nothing known as of now that’s 22 meters of larger in size that will come within 2 million miles of the Earth this month. The dead giveaway that this prediction is bogus is the fact that the impact point is specific, near Puerto Rico, but the impact time is vague, between the 15th and 28th of September. An object orbiting the Sun, like the Earth travels at 18 and a half miles a second give or take, the asteroid at a comparable velocity, so the impact time would have to be known to the second. On top of the Earth’s position, it also rotates
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Here is a link to NASA’s JPL on the subject.
NASA isn’t the only authority on asteroid orbits and positions. The Minor Planet Center is part of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and currently operated under a grant from NASA is the clearinghouse for asteroid positions and orbits. Some discoveries and positions are supplied by amateur astronomers who aren’t beholden to any government, so there isn’t any conspiracy to keep the knowledge from the public.
09/14/2015 – Ephemeris – Another odd creature of the Zodiac, a sea-goat
Ephemeris for Monday, September 14th. The Sun will rise at 7:20. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 35 minutes, setting at 7:55. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 8:35 this evening.
As the Teapot of the constellation Sagittarius tilts and pours celestial tea on the southwestern horizon, it is followed in the south-southeast by the faint constellation of Capricornus the sea-goat. I’m not sure you’ll see a half goat with a fish’s tail here unless you’ve started Oktoberfest a bit early. To me, it looks like a big sagging triangle with the point down. Capricornus is a constellation of the zodiac, and its claim to fame is a latitude line on the globe at 23 and a half degrees south, called the Tropic of Capricorn. Back a couple of thousand years ago the sun entered Capricornus on the first day of winter, the winter solstice. Thus the latitude where the sun was overhead at that instant was called the Tropic of Capricorn. Due to the wobble of the earth’s axis, the line should now be called the Tropic of Sagittarius.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Capricornus represented in Cartes du Ciel
An artist’s rendering of Capricornus. A part of Stellarium’s functionality. The constellation lines are drawn differently than Cartes du Ciel
09/11/2015 – Ephemeris – Astronomy from the dark skies of the Sleeping Bear Dunes this Saturday
Ephemeris for Friday, September 11th. The Sun will rise at 7:16. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 44 minutes, setting at 8:01. The Moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 6:39 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow night will be the next to the last Star Party at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore of the year. It will be at the Dune Climb in the Parking lot nearest to the dunes. Featured will be the wonders of the Milky Way including globular and galactic star clusters and planetary and emission nebulae. The event starts at 9 p.m. We are entering the second eclipse season of the year.
On Sunday there will be a partial solar eclipse visible from South Africa, the Southern Ocean and part of Antarctica. Eclipses occur in no less a grouping than pairs, solar and lunar, the next eclipse is 16 days away. It will be total lunar eclipse visible from here on Sunday evening the 27th. In the week after next I’ll tell you all about it.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Star Party at the Dunes Overlook. Credit: Eileen Carlisle. I still don’t have a good picture of a star party at the Dune Climb where the dune rises up and blocks the lower 20º of the western sky.
Partial Solar Eclipse of September 13, 2-15. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Fred Espenak.
09/10/2015 – Ephemeris – Andromeda the chained maiden
Ephemeris for Thursday, September 10th. The Sun will rise at 7:15. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 47 minutes, setting at 8:03. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 5:40 tomorrow morning.
In the east at 10 this evening can be found a large square of stars, the Great Square of Pegasus the flying horse. The square is standing on one corner. What look like its hind legs stretching to the left from the left corner star is another constellation, Andromeda the chained maiden. She is seen in the sky as two diverging curved strings of stars that curve upward. She was rescued by the hero Perseus, a nearby constellation, riding his steed Pegasus. Andromeda’s claim to astronomical fame is the large galaxy seen with the unaided eye just above the upper line of stars. The Great Andromeda Galaxy is two and a half million light years away. To the unaided eye the galaxy appears as a small smudge of light. In binoculars the galaxy is a delicate spindle of light. The galaxy is known as M31, the 31st object on Charles Messier’s list of fuzzy objects that aren’t comets.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Andromeda at 10 p.m. with the Great Andromeda Galaxy. Created using Stellarium.
09/09/2015 – Ephemeris – Saturn is in the evening sky but the planet action is moving to the morning
Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 9th. The Sun will rise at 7:14. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 8:05. The Moon, half way from last quarter to new, will rise at 4:42 tomorrow morning.
Lets look for the bright planets for this week. Saturn is alone in the evening sky spotted low in the southwestern sky near the bright star Antares to its left. It will set at 11:06 p.m. The rest of the planet action has moved to the morning sky. Venus, the morning star, will rise at 4:42 a.m. a bit north of east. Tomorrow morning the thin crescent Moon will appear just to the left of it. Much dimmer Mars will be to the left of the Moon, and will rise at 4:52 a.m. in the east-northeast. Mars will rapidly fall behind Venus. Jupiter is beginning to be visible in the morning sky and will rise at 6:16, almost an hour before the Sun. Mercury, though in the evening sky sets too soon after the Sun to be visible. Jupiter is too close to the Sun on thee morning side to be seen.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Saturn with the Zodiacal constellations of Libra, Scorpius and Sagittarius as the Teapot at 9:30 p.m. September 9, 2015. Created using Stellarium.
What Saturn and its moons might appear like in a telescope at 9:30 p.m., September 9, 2015. Small telescopes will show only the moon Titan. Created using Stellarium.
Looking east at Venus, the Moon and Mars at 6 a.m. September 10, 2015. Created using Stellarium.
This is a chart showing the sunrise and sunset skies for September 9, 2015 showing the location of the planets and the Moon at that time. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on the image to enlarge.
09/08/2015 – Ephemeris – Pegasus flies again
Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 8th. The Sun will rise at 7:13. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 53 minutes, setting at 8:07. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:44 tomorrow morning.
As summer wanes and the Sagittarius teapot tips its contents on the southwestern horizon the constellations of autumn rise in the east. I’ve already mentioned Cassiopeia, which is so far north it never really leaves us in northern Michigan. Pegasus the flying horse of Greek mythology is perhaps the most famous of the autumn constellations, and easiest to find. Its body, a large square of four stars, is in the east, standing on one corner. It is known as the Great Square of Pegasus. Only the front half of the horse is in the sky, and he’s flying upside down with his neck and head extending to the right from the rightmost star. His galloping front legs extend upward from the top star. Our Anishinaabek native peoples saw a moose here standing upright.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Pegasus at 10 p.m. Chart created using Stellarium.
09/07/2015 – Ephemeris – Small summer constellations
Ephemeris for Labor Day*, Monday, September 7th. The Sun will rise at 7:11. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 56 minutes, setting at 8:08. The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 2:47 tomorrow morning.
Located below the eastern edge of the Summer Triangle of three of the brightest stars in the sky, which is overhead in our sky at 10 p.m., is the tiny constellation of Delphinus the dolphin. Delphinus’ 6 stars in a small parallelogram with a tail, really does look like a dolphin leaping out of the water. The parallelogram itself has the name Job’s Coffin. The origin of this asterism or informal constellation is unknown. Of the dolphin itself: the ancient Greeks told stories of dolphins rescuing shipwrecked sailors. There’s another tiny constellation to the right of Delphinus, Sagitta the arrow a small thin group of 5 stars, which represents Cupid’s dart. Behind Sagitta binoculars will find a little star group called the Coat hanger.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Summer Triangle. Created using Stellarium and The Gimp.
Delphinus, Sagitta and the Coat hanger. Diagram created using Stellarium.
* In the US Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September and is considered the unofficial end of summer. The weather generally agrees. Last week we had a preview of fall weather. This week, except for today has been hot. The outlook for next week is looking decidedly cooler. Most schools in Michigan start the day after Labor Day. and end after June 1st. The unofficial start of summer is Memorial day, the last Monday in May.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 