Home > Uncategorized > 08/31/2018 – Ephemeris – Previewing September skies

08/31/2018 – Ephemeris – Previewing September skies

August 31, 2018

Ephemeris for Friday, August 31st. The Sun will rise at 7:04. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 8:21. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:09 this evening.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of September. The Sun will moving at its greatest speed in its retreat to the south. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 13 hours and 14 minutes tomorrow to 11 hours 45 minutes on the 30th. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 54 degrees tomorrow, and will descend to 42 degrees on the 30th. The season of summer is getting short, so enjoy it while you can. Summer ends and autumn begins at 9:54 p.m. on September 22nd. Venus is retreating toward the Sun now, though still moving eastward against the stars. Jupiter, Saturn and Mars are all moving eastward with respect to the stars, but are moving westward in the sky by our clocks.

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

Addendum

September Evening Star Chart

September evening star chart

Star Chart for September 2018 (10 p.m. EDT September 15, 2018). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 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 10 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.

September Morning Star Chart

September Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for September 2018 mornings based on 6 a.m. September 15th. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

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
  • The Summer Triangle is in red.

Twilight

Morning twilight Evening twilight Dark night Moon
Date Astronomical Nautical Nautical Astronomical Start End Illum.
2018-09-01 5h26m 6h04m 21h28m 22h06m 22h06m 23h43m 0.68
2018-09-02 5h27m 6h05m 21h26m 22h04m 22h04m – 0.57
2018-09-03 5h29m 6h07m 21h24m 22h02m 22h02m 0h22m 0.46
2018-09-04 5h30m 6h08m 21h22m 22h00m 22h00m 1h08m 0.34
2018-09-05 5h32m 6h09m 21h20m 21h58m 21h58m 2h04m 0.23
2018-09-06 5h33m 6h11m 21h18m 21h55m 21h55m 3h08m 0.14
2018-09-07 5h35m 6h12m 21h16m 21h53m 21h53m 4h19m 0.06
2018-09-08 5h36m 6h13m 21h14m 21h51m 21h51m 5h35m 0.02
2018-09-09 5h38m 6h15m 21h12m 21h49m 21h49m 5h38m 0
2018-09-10 5h39m 6h16m 21h10m 21h47m 21h47m 5h39m 0.01
2018-09-11 5h41m 6h17m 21h08m 21h44m 21h44m 5h41m 0.06
2018-09-12 5h42m 6h19m 21h06m 21h42m 21h57m 5h42m 0.12
2018-09-13 5h44m 6h20m 21h04m 21h40m 22h27m 5h44m 0.21
2018-09-14 5h45m 6h21m 21h02m 21h38m 23h01m 5h45m 0.3
2018-09-15 5h47m 6h22m 21h00m 21h36m 23h37m 5h47m 0.4
2018-09-16 5h48m 6h24m 20h58m 21h34m – 5h48m 0.5
2018-09-17 5h49m 6h25m 20h56m 21h32m 0h18m 5h49m 0.6
2018-09-18 5h51m 6h26m 20h54m 21h29m 1h03m 5h51m 0.7
2018-09-19 5h52m 6h28m 20h52m 21h27m 1h53m 5h52m 0.78
2018-09-20 5h54m 6h29m 20h50m 21h25m 2h47m 5h54m 0.86
2018-09-21 5h55m 6h30m 20h48m 21h23m 3h45m 5h55m 0.92
2018-09-22 5h56m 6h31m 20h46m 21h21m 4h44m 5h56m 0.92
2018-09-23 5h58m 6h33m 20h44m 21h19m 5h45m 5h58m 0.96
2018-09-24 5h59m 6h34m 20h42m 21h17m – – 0.99
2018-09-25 6h00m 6h35m 20h40m 21h15m – – 1
2018-09-26 6h02m 6h36m 20h38m 21h13m – – 0.99
2018-09-27 6h03m 6h37m 20h36m 21h11m 21h11m 21h12m 0.95
2018-09-28 6h04m 6h39m 20h35m 21h09m 21h09m 21h44m 0.89
2018-09-29 6h06m 6h40m 20h33m 21h07m 21h07m 22h21m 0.81
2018-09-30 6h07m 6h41m 20h31m 21h05m 21h05m 23h04m 0.72

Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

Date        Time    Event
Sep 01  Sa          Venus: 45° E
    01  Sa 12:45 am Venus-Spica: 1.2° S
    02  Su  9:34 pm Moon-Aldebaran: 1.2° S
    02  Su 10:37 pm Last Quarter
    05  We  2:56 am Moon North Dec.: 20.8° N
    06  Th  6:42 am Moon Ascending Node
    06  Th 10:13 pm Moon-Beehive: 1.4° N
    07  Fr  1:19 pm Neptune Opposition
    07  Fr  9:21 pm Moon Perigee: 361400 km
    09  Su  2:01 pm New Moon
    13  Th 10:21 pm Moon-Jupiter: 4.6° S
    16  Su  7:15 pm First Quarter
    17  Mo 12:46 pm Moon-Saturn: 2.3° S
    18  Tu  5:35 am Moon South Dec.: 20.9° S
    19  We  8:54 pm Moon Apogee: 404900 km
    20  Th  5:30 am Moon Descending Node
    20  Th  9:47 pm Mercury Superior Conj.
    22  Sa  9:54 pm Autumnal Equinox
    24  Mo 10:53 pm Full Moon (Harvest Moon)
    30  Su  3:06 am Moon-Aldebaran: 1.4° S
Oct 01  Mo          Venus: 32.9°

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
     September, 2018    Local time zone: EDT
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
     |      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
     +=======================================================================+
     |Sat  1| 07:05a  08:19p  13:14 | 09:25p  05:58a |      Rise 11:43p   62%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun  2| 07:06a  08:17p  13:11 | 09:23p  06:00a |L Qtr Rise 12:22a   51%|
     |Mon  3| 07:07a  08:15p  13:08 | 09:21p  06:01a |      Rise 01:08a   40%|
     |Tue  4| 07:08a  08:13p  13:05 | 09:19p  06:02a |      Rise 02:03a   29%|
     |Wed  5| 07:09a  08:12p  13:02 | 09:17p  06:04a |      Rise 03:08a   19%|
     |Thu  6| 07:11a  08:10p  12:59 | 09:15p  06:05a |      Rise 04:19a   11%|
     |Fri  7| 07:12a  08:08p  12:56 | 09:13p  06:06a |      Rise 05:35a    4%|
     |Sat  8| 07:13a  08:06p  12:53 | 09:11p  06:08a |      Rise 06:51a    1%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun  9| 07:14a  08:04p  12:50 | 09:09p  06:09a |New   Set  08:26p    0%|
     |Mon 10| 07:15a  08:02p  12:47 | 09:07p  06:10a |      Set  08:57p    2%|
     |Tue 11| 07:16a  08:00p  12:43 | 09:05p  06:12a |      Set  09:27p    7%|
     |Wed 12| 07:18a  07:59p  12:40 | 09:03p  06:13a |      Set  09:56p   14%|
     |Thu 13| 07:19a  07:57p  12:37 | 09:01p  06:14a |      Set  10:27p   22%|
     |Fri 14| 07:20a  07:55p  12:34 | 08:59p  06:16a |      Set  11:00p   31%|
     |Sat 15| 07:21a  07:53p  12:31 | 08:57p  06:17a |      Set  11:37p   41%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 16| 07:22a  07:51p  12:28 | 08:55p  06:18a |F Qtr Set  12:17a   50%|
     |Mon 17| 07:24a  07:49p  12:25 | 08:53p  06:20a |      Set  01:03a   60%|
     |Tue 18| 07:25a  07:47p  12:22 | 08:51p  06:21a |      Set  01:53a   69%|
     |Wed 19| 07:26a  07:45p  12:19 | 08:49p  06:22a |      Set  02:47a   77%|
     |Thu 20| 07:27a  07:43p  12:16 | 08:47p  06:23a |      Set  03:44a   85%|
     |Fri 21| 07:28a  07:42p  12:13 | 08:45p  06:25a |      Set  04:44a   91%|
     |Sat 22| 07:29a  07:40p  12:10 | 08:43p  06:26a |      Set  05:45a   96%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 23| 07:31a  07:38p  12:07 | 08:41p  06:27a |      Set  06:47a   99%|
     |Mon 24| 07:32a  07:36p  12:04 | 08:39p  06:29a |Full  Rise 07:51p  100%|
     |Tue 25| 07:33a  07:34p  12:00 | 08:37p  06:30a |      Rise 08:17p   99%|
     |Wed 26| 07:34a  07:32p  11:57 | 08:35p  06:31a |      Rise 08:43p   96%|
     |Thu 27| 07:35a  07:30p  11:54 | 08:33p  06:32a |      Rise 09:12p   91%|
     |Fri 28| 07:37a  07:28p  11:51 | 08:31p  06:34a |      Rise 09:44p   84%|
     |Sat 29| 07:38a  07:26p  11:48 | 08:29p  06:35a |      Rise 10:21p   76%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 30| 07:39a  07:25p  11:45 | 08:28p  06:36a |      Rise 11:04p   66%|
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     * Nautical Twilight
     ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise

 

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