Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Monday, November 27th. The Sun will rise at 7:54. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 5:05. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 1:37 tomorrow morning.

The second closest exoplanet to the solar system has been discovered. That was earlier this year around a star named Ross 128. It’s name is Ross 128 small letter b. The star Ross 128 is a nearby red dwarf star, whose distance is a shade under 11 light years away, The star is thought to be twice the age of the Sun, We’d be in big trouble if the Sun were that old, but Ross 128 is just getting started. The exoplanet is about 35% more massive than the Earth. It’s distance from the star averages 4.6 million miles and its year is a bit under 10 Earth days. At that rate I’d be over 28 hundred years old. Astronomers don’t know the size or the density of the planet since it doesn’t pass in front of its star. These measurements will have to wait on larger telescopes.

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

Addendum

The star Ross 128. It’s actually much fainter than is suggested here in the diagram from Sky and Telescope magazine’s website.. Mars’ position is for November 2017.