Home > Ephemeris Program, Month preview > 02/28/2017 – Ephemeris – Previewing the skies of March 2017

02/28/2017 – Ephemeris – Previewing the skies of March 2017

February 28, 2017

Ephemeris for Fat Tuesday, February 28th.  The Sun will rise at 7:21.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 6:29.  The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 9:03 this evening.

Let’s preview the month of March which begins tomorrow.  In March the increase in daylight hours is at its greatest, with Spring 3 weeks away.  Daylight hours will increase from 11 hours and 11 minutes tomorrow to 12 hours and 44 minutes on the 31st.  Along with that the altitude of the sun at local noon will increase from 38 degrees today to 49 ½ degrees at month’s end.  The big astronomical event of this month will be a near grazing occultation of the bright star Aldebaran by the Moon.  Aldebaran is the bright star in the face of Taurus the bull.  This will occur just after 11 p.m. Saturday night the 4th.  The southern half of the IPR listening area will be able to see it.  See bobmoler.wordpress.com for more information.

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

Addenda

March Star Charts

Evening
March Evening Star Chart

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

Morning
March Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for March 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 .  This will be the last morning star chart until autumn.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT, 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.

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
  • The Summer Triangle is shown in red

Evening nautical twilight ends at 7:32 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 9:16 p.m. EDT on the 31st.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 8:06 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 9:53 p.m. EDT on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 5:43 a.m. EST on the 1st, and increasing to 5:48 a.m. EDT on the 31st.
Morning nautical twilight starts at 6:17 a.m. EST on the 1st, and Increasing to 6:25 a.m. EDT 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
Mar 01  We          Venus: 32.5° E
    01  We  1:58 am Moon-Mars: 4.4° N
    01  We  9:22 pm Neptune Conjunction
    03  Fr  2:24 am Moon Perigee: 369100 km
    04  Sa  9:38 pm Moon-Aldebaran: 0.2° S  Occultation!
    05  Su  6:32 am First Quarter
    06  Mo  7:08 pm Mercury Superior Conjunction with the Sun
    06  Mo  7:43 pm Moon North Dec.: 18.9° N
    10  Fr  5:20 pm Moon-Regulus: 0.9° N
    10  Fr 11:17 pm Moon Ascending Node
    12  Su  2:00 am Daylight Saving Time starts (Spring Forward)
    12  Su 10:54 am Full Moon
    14  Tu  4:04 pm Moon-Jupiter: 2.7° S
    18  Sa  1:25 pm Moon Apogee: 404700 km
    20  Mo  6:29 am Vernal Equinox. Spring starts
    20  Mo  6:49 am Moon-Saturn: 3.8° S
    20  Mo 11:58 am Last Quarter
    21  Tu  1:22 am Moon South Dec.: 18.9° S
    25  Sa  6:31 am Venus Inferior Conjunction with the Sun
    25  Sa 11:41 am Moon Descending Node
    27  Mo 10:57 pm New Moon
    30  Th  8:39 am Moon Perigee: 363900 km
Apr 01  Sa          Venus: 13.4° W

March 2017 Calendar

LU                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
March, 2017    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Wed  1| 07:19a  06:30p  11:11 | 07:34p  06:16a |      Set  10:15p   14%|
|Thu  2| 07:18a  06:32p  11:14 | 07:35p  06:15a |      Set  11:26p   23%|
|Fri  3| 07:16a  06:33p  11:17 | 07:36p  06:13a |      Set  12:37a   33%|
|Sat  4| 07:14a  06:34p  11:20 | 07:37p  06:11a |      Set  01:45a   44%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  5| 07:12a  06:36p  11:23 | 07:39p  06:09a |F Qtr Set  02:50a   56%|
|Mon  6| 07:11a  06:37p  11:26 | 07:40p  06:08a |      Set  03:48a   67%|
|Tue  7| 07:09a  06:38p  11:29 | 07:41p  06:06a |      Set  04:40a   77%|
|Wed  8| 07:07a  06:40p  11:32 | 07:43p  06:04a |      Set  05:25a   86%|
|Thu  9| 07:05a  06:41p  11:35 | 07:44p  06:02a |      Set  06:04a   92%|
|Fri 10| 07:03a  06:42p  11:38 | 07:45p  06:00a |      Set  06:38a   97%|
|Sat 11| 07:02a  06:44p  11:42 | 07:47p  05:59a |      Set  07:09a  100%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
| EDT  |      Time Change      |                |                       |
|Sun 12| 08:00a  07:45p  11:45 | 08:48p  06:57a |Full  Rise 08:00p  100%|
|Mon 13| 07:58a  07:46p  11:48 | 08:49p  06:55a |      Rise 09:03p   98%|
|Tue 14| 07:56a  07:47p  11:51 | 08:51p  06:53a |      Rise 10:05p   94%|
|Wed 15| 07:54a  07:49p  11:54 | 08:52p  06:51a |      Rise 11:05p   89%|
|Thu 16| 07:52a  07:50p  11:57 | 08:53p  06:49a |      Rise 12:04a   82%|
|Fri 17| 07:51a  07:51p  12:00 | 08:55p  06:47a |      Rise 01:01a   74%|
|Sat 18| 07:49a  07:53p  12:03 | 08:56p  06:46a |      Rise 01:57a   66%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 19| 07:47a  07:54p  12:07 | 08:57p  06:44a |      Rise 02:50a   56%|
|Mon 20| 07:45a  07:55p  12:10 | 08:59p  06:42a |L Qtr Rise 03:40a   47%|
|Tue 21| 07:43a  07:56p  12:13 | 09:00p  06:40a |      Rise 04:27a   37%|
|Wed 22| 07:41a  07:58p  12:16 | 09:01p  06:38a |      Rise 05:09a   28%|
|Thu 23| 07:39a  07:59p  12:19 | 09:03p  06:36a |      Rise 05:48a   19%|
|Fri 24| 07:38a  08:00p  12:22 | 09:04p  06:34a |      Rise 06:24a   12%|
|Sat 25| 07:36a  08:01p  12:25 | 09:05p  06:32a |      Rise 06:58a    6%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 26| 07:34a  08:03p  12:28 | 09:07p  06:30a |      Rise 07:31a    2%|
|Mon 27| 07:32a  08:04p  12:32 | 09:08p  06:28a |New   Set  07:43p    0%|
|Tue 28| 07:30a  08:05p  12:35 | 09:10p  06:26a |      Set  08:56p    1%|
|Wed 29| 07:28a  08:06p  12:38 | 09:11p  06:24a |      Set  10:10p    5%|
|Thu 30| 07:26a  08:08p  12:41 | 09:12p  06:22a |      Set  11:24p   11%|
|Fri 31| 07:25a  08:09p  12:44 | 09:14p  06:20a |      Set  12:36a   20%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Grazing Occultation of Aldebaran March 4 or 5, 2017  (Depending on your location)

Occultation map

Path of the occultation of Aldebaran for March 4-5, 2017. Note where the top edge of the path goes. Right through northern Michigan.

Occultation north limit line

Here’s the line where the limit of the occultation passes in northwestern lower Michigan. Occult4 kml file plotted on Google Earth.

The central time of the occultation is 11:13 p.m.  Start viewing the Moon before 11 p.m.  The farther south one is of the line the earlier the occultation starts and the longer it lasts.  I’ll have lots more information in Thursday’s post.

 

 

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