Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Friday, June 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:00. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 10:38 this evening.

Lets preview July’s skies. The Sun, having reached its northern solstice, is beginning to slide southward again, at first imperceptibly, then with greater speed. The daylight hours will decrease from 15 hours and 30 minutes Sunday to 14 hours 41 minutes at month’s end. The daylight hours will be slightly shorter south of Interlochen, and slightly longer to the north. The altitude of the Sun at local noon, when the Sun is due south will decrease from 68 degrees today to 63 degrees at month’s end. The Sun will be a degree lower in the Straits area. Despite the warmth, the Earth will reach its greatest distance from the Sun on Friday the 6th. The planets visible this month in the evening are Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and later, Mars.

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

Addendum

July Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for July 2018 (11 p.m. EDT July 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 4:30 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). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.

Note the chart times of 11 p.m. and 4:30 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.

July Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for July 2018 mornings based on 4:30 a.m. July 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.
• DAqR – Delta Aquariid meteor shower radiant

Twilight

Evening nautical twilight ends at 11:00 p.m. EDT on the 1st, decreasing to 10:28 p.m. EDT on the 31st.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 12:03 a.m. EDT on the 1st, decreasing to 11:28 a.m. EDT on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 3:38 a.m. EDT on the 1st, and increasing to 4:28 a.m. EDT on the 31st.
Morning nautical twilight starts at 4:41 a.m. EDT on the 1st, and increasing to 5:17 a.m. EDT on the 31st.

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

Date        Time    Event
Jul 01  Su          Venus: 40.7° E
    04  We  1:39 am Mercury-Beehive: 0.6° S
    06  Fr  3:51 am Last Quarter
    06  Fr 11:59 am Aphelion: 1.0167 AU
    09  Mo  7:36 pm Venus-Regulus: 1° N
    10  Tu  5:30 am Moon-Aldebaran: 1.1° S
    12  Th 12:59 am Mercury Elongation: 26.4° E
    12  Th  8:01 am Moon North Dec.: 20.8° N
    12  Th 10:48 pm New Moon
    12  Th 11:01 pm Partial Solar Eclipse (S Australia)
    13  Fr  4:28 am Moon Perigee: 357400 km
    13  Fr 10:50 pm Moon Ascending Node
    14  Sa  6:04 pm Moon-Mercury: 2.2° S
    15  Su 12:14 pm Moon-Regulus: 1.7° S
    15  Su 11:31 pm Moon-Venus: 1.6° S
    19  Th  3:52 pm First Quarter
    20  Fr  7:57 pm Moon-Jupiter: 4.8° S
    25  We  2:10 am Moon-Saturn: 2.2° S
    25  We  4:55 pm Moon South Dec.: 20.8° S
    27  Fr  1:31 am Mars Opposition
    27  Fr  1:44 am Moon Apogee: 406200 km
    27  Fr  4:21 pm Full Moon
    27  Fr  4:22 pm Total Lunar Eclipse (S.America, Europe, Africa, Asia)
    27  Fr  6:40 pm Moon Descending Node
    28  Sa  4:50 pm Delta Aquarid Shower: ZHR = 20
    31  Tu  3:51 am Mars closest to the Earth 57.59 mkm
Aug 01  We          Venus: 45.1° 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
     July, 2018    Local time zone: EDT
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
     |      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
     +=======================================================================+
     |Sun  1| 06:01a  09:32p  15:30 | 10:57p  04:35a |      Rise 11:49p   88%|
     |Mon  2| 06:01a  09:31p  15:30 | 10:56p  04:36a |      Rise 12:19a   81%|
     |Tue  3| 06:02a  09:31p  15:29 | 10:56p  04:37a |      Rise 12:47a   72%|
     |Wed  4| 06:02a  09:31p  15:28 | 10:56p  04:37a |      Rise 01:13a   63%|
     |Thu  5| 06:03a  09:30p  15:27 | 10:55p  04:38a |      Rise 01:39a   53%|
     |Fri  6| 06:04a  09:30p  15:26 | 10:54p  04:39a |L Qtr Rise 02:06a   43%|
     |Sat  7| 06:04a  09:30p  15:25 | 10:54p  04:40a |      Rise 02:36a   33%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun  8| 06:05a  09:29p  15:24 | 10:53p  04:41a |      Rise 03:10a   23%|
     |Mon  9| 06:06a  09:29p  15:22 | 10:52p  04:42a |      Rise 03:50a   14%|
     |Tue 10| 06:07a  09:28p  15:21 | 10:51p  04:43a |      Rise 04:38a    7%|
     |Wed 11| 06:08a  09:28p  15:20 | 10:51p  04:44a |      Rise 05:36a    2%|
     |Thu 12| 06:08a  09:27p  15:18 | 10:50p  04:46a |New   Set  09:09p    0%|
     |Fri 13| 06:09a  09:26p  15:17 | 10:49p  04:47a |      Set  10:04p    1%|
     |Sat 14| 06:10a  09:26p  15:15 | 10:48p  04:48a |      Set  10:50p    5%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 15| 06:11a  09:25p  15:14 | 10:47p  04:49a |      Set  11:29p   12%|
     |Mon 16| 06:12a  09:24p  15:12 | 10:46p  04:50a |      Set  12:02a   21%|
     |Tue 17| 06:13a  09:24p  15:10 | 10:44p  04:52a |      Set  12:32a   31%|
     |Wed 18| 06:14a  09:23p  15:08 | 10:43p  04:53a |      Set  01:01a   41%|
     |Thu 19| 06:15a  09:22p  15:07 | 10:42p  04:54a |F Qtr Set  01:29a   52%|
     |Fri 20| 06:16a  09:21p  15:05 | 10:41p  04:56a |      Set  01:57a   62%|
     |Sat 21| 06:17a  09:20p  15:03 | 10:40p  04:57a |      Set  02:28a   72%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 22| 06:18a  09:19p  15:01 | 10:38p  04:58a |      Set  03:03a   80%|
     |Mon 23| 06:19a  09:18p  14:59 | 10:37p  05:00a |      Set  03:41a   87%|
     |Tue 24| 06:20a  09:17p  14:57 | 10:36p  05:01a |      Set  04:25a   93%|
     |Wed 25| 06:21a  09:16p  14:55 | 10:34p  05:03a |      Set  05:13a   97%|
     |Thu 26| 06:22a  09:15p  14:53 | 10:33p  05:04a |      Set  06:06a   99%|
     |Fri 27| 06:23a  09:14p  14:50 | 10:31p  05:05a |Full  Rise 09:16p  100%|
     |Sat 28| 06:24a  09:13p  14:48 | 10:30p  05:07a |      Rise 09:51p   99%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 29| 06:25a  09:12p  14:46 | 10:28p  05:08a |      Rise 10:23p   96%|
     |Mon 30| 06:26a  09:10p  14:44 | 10:27p  05:10a |      Rise 10:51p   91%|
     |Tue 31| 06:27a  09:09p  14:41 | 10:25p  05:11a |      Rise 11:17p   85%|
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     * Nautical Twilight
     ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Ephemeris of Sky Events is created with my DOS version LookingUp program.