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01/02/2017 – Ephemeris – Looking ahead at January 2017

January 2, 2017 Comments off

Ephemeris for Monday, January 2nd. 2017.  The Sun will rise at 8:19.  It’ll be up for 8 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 5:14.  The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 10:00 this evening.

Let’s look ahead at the month of January. Today we will have out latest sunrise at 8:19.  That time will drop to 8:02 on the 31st.  Sunset times are already increasing, now at 5:14, will extend to 5:50 at month’s end, which will push the daylight hours to 9 hours 48 minutes by then.  The altitude of the Sun at local noon will increase from under 23 degrees today to 28 degrees at month’s end.  Tomorrow morning will see the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower.  They will be best seen in the early morning and seem to come from near the handle of the Big Dipper, where possibly more than 60 meteors an hour might be seen.  On Wednesday we will reach our closest distance from the Sun of the year at 91.3 million miles.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

January Star Charts

Evening
January evening star chart

Star Chart for January 2017 evenings. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

Morning
January Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for January 2017 mornings. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

Since the night time hours are long I’ve decided to add a morning star chart .

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EST, and again at 6 a.m.  Those are chart times.  Note, Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian.  (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian. during EDT and 45 minutes behind our daylight standard time meridian. during EST).  To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1:45 or 0:45  earlier than the current time if you were near your time meridian.

Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract a half hour for every week after the 15th.

For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.

  • Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star
  • Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
  • Straighten to a spike to Spica
  • QuadR is the Radiant of the Quadrantid meteor shower

Evening nautical twilight ends at 6:22 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 6:55 p.m. EST on the 31st.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 6:57 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 7:29 p.m. EST on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 6:35 a.m. EST on the 1st, and increasing to 6:23 a.m. EST on the 31st.
Morning nautical twilight starts at 7:10 a.m. EST on the 1st, and Increasing to 6:57 a.m. EST on the 31st.

NASA 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 Time and follow the time change dates.

    Date   Time  Event
Jan 01  Su       Venus: 46.8° E
    02  Mo 04:20 Moon-Venus: 2° S
    02  Mo 13:14 Moon Descending Node
    03  Tu 01:47 Moon-Mars: 0.3° S
    03  Tu 09:10 Quadrantid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 120
    04  We 05:59 Perihelion: 0.9833 AU
    05  Th 14:47 First Quarter
    09  Mo 04:03 Mercury-Saturn: 6.7° N
    09  Mo 09:07 Moon-Aldebaran: 0.4° S
    10  Tu 01:07 Moon Perigee: 363200 km
    11  We 04:32 Moon North Dec.: 18.9° N
    12  Th 06:34 Full Moon
    12  Th 07:59 Venus Greatest Elongation: 47.1° East
    14  Sa 23:07 Moon-Regulus: 0.9° N
    15  Su 05:45 Moon Ascending Node
    19  Th 00:26 Moon-Jupiter: 3° S
    19  Th 04:59 Mercury Greatest Elongation: 24.1° West
    19  Th 17:14 Last Quarter
    21  Sa 19:14 Moon Apogee: 404900 km
    24  Tu 05:37 Moon-Saturn: 4° S
    25  We 06:59 Moon South Dec.: 18.9° S
    25  We 19:46 Moon-Mercury: 4° S
    27  Fr 19:07 New Moon
    29  Su 17:21 Moon Descending Node
    31  Tu 01:12 Jupiter-Spica: 3.5° N
    31  Tu 09:34 Moon-Venus: 4.2° N
    31  Tu 20:09 Moon-Mars: 2.4° N
Feb 01  We       Venus: 45.5° E

January 2017 Calendar

LU                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
January, 2017    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sun  1| 08:20a  05:13p  08:53 | 06:23p  07:09a |      Set  08:55p   13%|
|Mon  2| 08:20a  05:14p  08:54 | 06:24p  07:09a |      Set  10:00p   21%|
|Tue  3| 08:20a  05:15p  08:55 | 06:25p  07:10a |      Set  11:06p   31%|
|Wed  4| 08:20a  05:16p  08:56 | 06:26p  07:10a |      Set  12:14a   41%|
|Thu  5| 08:19a  05:17p  08:57 | 06:27p  07:10a |F Qtr Set  01:24a   52%|
|Fri  6| 08:19a  05:18p  08:58 | 06:28p  07:09a |      Set  02:35a   63%|
|Sat  7| 08:19a  05:19p  08:59 | 06:29p  07:09a |      Set  03:47a   74%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  8| 08:19a  05:20p  09:01 | 06:30p  07:09a |      Set  04:58a   83%|
|Mon  9| 08:19a  05:21p  09:02 | 06:31p  07:09a |      Set  06:07a   91%|
|Tue 10| 08:18a  05:22p  09:04 | 06:32p  07:09a |      Set  07:11a   97%|
|Wed 11| 08:18a  05:23p  09:05 | 06:33p  07:09a |      Set  08:07a  100%|
|Thu 12| 08:17a  05:25p  09:07 | 06:34p  07:08a |Full  Rise 06:04p  100%|
|Fri 13| 08:17a  05:26p  09:08 | 06:35p  07:08a |      Rise 07:12p   97%|
|Sat 14| 08:16a  05:27p  09:10 | 06:36p  07:08a |      Rise 08:20p   92%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 08:16a  05:28p  09:12 | 06:37p  07:07a |      Rise 09:26p   85%|
|Mon 16| 08:15a  05:30p  09:14 | 06:38p  07:07a |      Rise 10:31p   77%|
|Tue 17| 08:15a  05:31p  09:16 | 06:39p  07:06a |      Rise 11:33p   68%|
|Wed 18| 08:14a  05:32p  09:18 | 06:40p  07:06a |      Rise 12:33a   59%|
|Thu 19| 08:13a  05:33p  09:20 | 06:42p  07:05a |L Qtr Rise 01:32a   49%|
|Fri 20| 08:13a  05:35p  09:22 | 06:43p  07:05a |      Rise 02:30a   40%|
|Sat 21| 08:12a  05:36p  09:24 | 06:44p  07:04a |      Rise 03:27a   31%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 08:11a  05:37p  09:26 | 06:45p  07:03a |      Rise 04:23a   23%|
|Mon 23| 08:10a  05:39p  09:28 | 06:46p  07:03a |      Rise 05:18a   15%|
|Tue 24| 08:09a  05:40p  09:30 | 06:47p  07:02a |      Rise 06:09a    9%|
|Wed 25| 08:08a  05:42p  09:33 | 06:49p  07:01a |      Rise 06:57a    4%|
|Thu 26| 08:07a  05:43p  09:35 | 06:50p  07:00a |      Rise 07:41a    1%|
|Fri 27| 08:06a  05:44p  09:37 | 06:51p  07:00a |New   Set  05:43p    0%|
|Sat 28| 08:05a  05:46p  09:40 | 06:52p  06:59a |      Set  06:45p    1%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 29| 08:04a  05:47p  09:42 | 06:54p  06:58a |      Set  07:51p    4%|
|Mon 30| 08:03a  05:49p  09:45 | 06:55p  06:57a |      Set  08:58p   10%|
|Tue 31| 08:02a  05:50p  09:47 | 06:56p  06:56a |      Set  10:06p   17%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview