Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Tuesday, the first day of May. The Sun rises at 6:32. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 15 minutes, setting at 8:47. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 10:32 this evening.

They say April showers bring May flowers, but I don’t think they meant snow showers. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 14 hours and 15 minutes today to 15 hours 19 minutes on May 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will ascend from 60 degrees today to 67 degrees at month’s end. The altitude of the sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower than that but your length of daylight will be a few minutes longer. Local apparent noon this month, when the sun passes due south, will be about 1:38 p.m. The Eta Aquariid meteor shower will reach its peak about 3 a.m. this Saturday morning the 5th, but the bright morning Moon will interfere.

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

Addendum

May Evening Sky Chart

Star Chart for May 2018 (11 p.m. EDT May 15, 2018). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT in the evening and 5 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that 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 hour 45 minutes (Daylight Time) or 45 minutes (Standard Time) earlier than the current time.

Note the chart times of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th subtract ½ hour. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.

May Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for May 2018 mornings based on 5 a.m. May 15th. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

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

Star chart annotations

• Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
• Leaky Big Dipper drips on Leo.
• Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus and
• Continue with a spike to Spica.
• The Summer Triangle is in red.
• EAqr is the Eta Aquariid meteor shower radiant.  This shower will be plagued by a waning gibbous moon. It will be addressed in the May 3rd program.  This is a shower of bits from Halley’s Comet.

Twilight

Evening nautical twilight ends at 10:02 p.m. EDT on the 1st, increasing to 10:44 p.m. EDT on the 31st.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 10:46 p.m. EDT on the 1st, increasing to 11:42 p.m. EDT on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 4:40 a.m. EDT on the 1st, and decreasing to 3:45 a.m. EDT on the 31st.
Morning nautical twilight starts at 5:25 a.m. EDT on the 1st, and decreasing to 4:44 a.m. EDT on the 31st.

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

    Date    Time    Event
May 01  Tu          Venus: 27.2° E
    02  We  9:24 am Venus-Aldebaran: 6.4° N
    04  Fr  4:31 pm Moon-Saturn: 1.9° S
    04  Fr  7:00 pm Moon South Dec.: 20.6° S
    05  Sa  3:03 am Eta Aquarid Shower: ZHR = 60
    05  Sa  8:35 pm Moon Apogee: 404500 km
    06  Su  3:24 am Moon-Mars: 3° S
    07  Mo  6:24 am Moon Descending Node
    07  Mo 10:09 pm Last Quarter
    08  Tu  8:10 pm Jupiter Opposition
    13  Su  1:21 pm Moon-Mercury: 2.5° N
    15  Tu  7:48 am New Moon
    17  Th  2:11 pm Moon-Venus: 4.8° N
    17  Th  5:06 pm Moon Perigee: 363800 km
    18  Fr 11:02 am Moon North Dec.: 20.7° N
    20  Su  7:57 am Moon-Beehive: 1.7° N
    20  Su  9:13 am Moon Ascending Node
    21  Mo  8:53 pm Moon-Regulus: 1.5° S
    21  Mo 11:49 pm First Quarter
    27  Su  1:39 pm Moon-Jupiter: 4.3° S
    29  Tu 10:20 am Full Moon
    31  Th  9:20 pm Moon-Saturn: 1.8° S
Jun 01  Fr          Venus: 34.5° E

Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html

If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year
or calendar pages for your time zone.

Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events

     LU                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
     May, 2018    Local time zone: EDT
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
     |      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
     +=======================================================================+
     |Tue  1| 06:32a  08:47p  14:15 | 10:00p  05:20a |      Rise 10:32p   96%|
     |Wed  2| 06:31a  08:49p  14:17 | 10:01p  05:18a |      Rise 11:31p   91%|
     |Thu  3| 06:29a  08:50p  14:20 | 10:03p  05:17a |      Rise 12:26a   85%|
     |Fri  4| 06:28a  08:51p  14:23 | 10:04p  05:15a |      Rise 01:15a   78%|
     |Sat  5| 06:27a  08:52p  14:25 | 10:06p  05:13a |      Rise 02:00a   69%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun  6| 06:25a  08:53p  14:28 | 10:07p  05:12a |      Rise 02:39a   60%|
     |Mon  7| 06:24a  08:55p  14:30 | 10:09p  05:10a |L Qtr Rise 03:14a   51%|
     |Tue  8| 06:23a  08:56p  14:33 | 10:11p  05:08a |      Rise 03:45a   41%|
     |Wed  9| 06:21a  08:57p  14:35 | 10:12p  05:06a |      Rise 04:14a   32%|
     |Thu 10| 06:20a  08:58p  14:38 | 10:14p  05:05a |      Rise 04:42a   23%|
     |Fri 11| 06:19a  08:59p  14:40 | 10:15p  05:03a |      Rise 05:09a   15%|
     |Sat 12| 06:18a  09:00p  14:42 | 10:17p  05:02a |      Rise 05:38a    8%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 13| 06:16a  09:02p  14:45 | 10:18p  05:00a |      Rise 06:09a    3%|
     |Mon 14| 06:15a  09:03p  14:47 | 10:20p  04:59a |      Rise 06:45a    1%|
     |Tue 15| 06:14a  09:04p  14:49 | 10:21p  04:57a |New   Set  09:20p    1%|
     |Wed 16| 06:13a  09:05p  14:52 | 10:23p  04:56a |      Set  10:32p    3%|
     |Thu 17| 06:12a  09:06p  14:54 | 10:24p  04:54a |      Set  11:40p    9%|
     |Fri 18| 06:11a  09:07p  14:56 | 10:26p  04:53a |      Set  12:41a   17%|
     |Sat 19| 06:10a  09:08p  14:58 | 10:27p  04:51a |      Set  01:33a   26%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 20| 06:09a  09:09p  15:00 | 10:29p  04:50a |      Set  02:17a   37%|
     |Mon 21| 06:08a  09:10p  15:02 | 10:30p  04:49a |F Qtr Set  02:55a   48%|
     |Tue 22| 06:07a  09:12p  15:04 | 10:32p  04:47a |      Set  03:27a   59%|
     |Wed 23| 06:06a  09:13p  15:06 | 10:33p  04:46a |      Set  03:56a   70%|
     |Thu 24| 06:05a  09:14p  15:08 | 10:34p  04:45a |      Set  04:24a   79%|
     |Fri 25| 06:05a  09:15p  15:09 | 10:36p  04:44a |      Set  04:52a   87%|
     |Sat 26| 06:04a  09:16p  15:11 | 10:37p  04:43a |      Set  05:20a   93%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 27| 06:03a  09:16p  15:13 | 10:38p  04:42a |      Set  05:51a   97%|
     |Mon 28| 06:02a  09:17p  15:15 | 10:39p  04:41a |      Set  06:24a   99%|
     |Tue 29| 06:02a  09:18p  15:16 | 10:41p  04:40a |Full  Rise 09:21p  100%|
     |Wed 30| 06:01a  09:19p  15:18 | 10:42p  04:39a |      Rise 10:18p   98%|
     |Thu 31| 06:00a  09:20p  15:19 | 10:43p  04:38a |      Rise 11:10p   95%|
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     * Nautical Twilight
     ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise