Archive
10/17/2018 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets tonight?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, October 17th. The Sun will rise at 8:00. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 53 minutes, setting at 6:54. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 1:33 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the bright planets for tonight. Three of them are visible in the evening sky. Venus though still officially an evening planet sets before the Sun because it is south of the Sun’s path. Jupiter will be very low in the west-southwest as skies darken. It will set at 8:16 p.m. Saturn, the ringed planet, will start the evening low in the southwestern sky and will set at 10:39 p.m. Mars will be low in the south as the skies darken tonight. and is now 64.6 million miles (104.0 million km) away. Mars will be due south at 9:04 p.m., and it will set at 2:03 a.m. Tonight Mars will be east or left of the waxing gibbous Moon. Mars is picking up speed moving eastward, crossing the constellation of Capricornus this month.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
10/16/2018 – Ephemeris – Soyuz failure makes for problems for the ISS
Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 16th. The Sun will rise at 7:59. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 56 minutes, setting at 6:56. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 12:36 tomorrow morning.
Last Thursday the 11th a cosmonaut, Alexy Ovchinin and an astronaut, Nick Hague were launched toward the International Space Station by a Russian Soyuz rocket. At about the time the four first stage boosters separated from the second stage, something happened, and the capsule containing the men was weightless instead of being boosted by the second stage of the rocket. The Soyuz has an escape system, so the descent capsule separated from the protective shroud and the orbital module on top of it and the service module below it. To make a landing downrange. The men are safe, but the three persons in the ISS must return by mid-December, whether or not they are relieved as their Soyuz capsule cannot be safely flown after that.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The above with the exception of the last line is what goes out on the 59 second length of my radio program. What follows is a more complete explanation of the problems in store for the International Space Station as the Russians attempt to determine the cause of the failure, fix the problem and begin flying again.
Cosmonauts and astronauts visiting the International Space Station generally use the same Soyuz that brought them up and docked to the station to return to the Earth. It happens that the reaction control thrusters used to orient the spacecraft use hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as a monopropellant. It decomposes into oxygen and steam when in contact with a catalyst to provide thrust. However, hydrogen peroxide is unstable if left to itself, slowly decomposing. This gives the Soyuz a useful lifetime of about 200 days on orbit. The current crew of Sergey Prokopyev, Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, and Alexander Gerst was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on June 8, 2018. The 200 days runs out in late December. Their original scheduled return date was December 13th.
Scott Manley on YouTube has more information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpqq0i4w_fM
10/15/2018 – Ephemeris – The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 is exploring the asteroid Ryugu.
Ephemeris for Monday, October 15th. The Sun will rise at 7:58. It’ll be up for 11 hours even, setting at 6:58. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:43 this evening.
The Japanese asteroid sample return mission Hayabusa2 is in the midst of operations at the near-earth asteroid Ryugu. It dropped three rovers that hopped across its surface and later this month will take the first of three samples. Hayabusa means peregrine falcon in Japanese. It will stay at the asteroid until late next year, it then will make a year-long trip back to the Earth, landing in the Outback of Australia. NASA’s own OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission is currently approaching the near-earth asteroid Bennu. It will orbit the asteroid for over a year and can make up to three attempts to take a sample of the asteroid for return to Earth. It is to land at the Utah Test and Training Range in September of 2023.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
10/12/2018 – Ephemeris – The Moon’s phases
Ephemeris for Friday, October 12th. The Sun will rise at 7:54. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 7:03. The Moon, halfway from new to first quarter, will set at 9:31 this evening.
The Moon’s changing appearance over the month may seem to be mysterious at first glance. Maybe because one may think that the objects in the sky are somehow different from the familiar objects we see around us on the Earth. In ancient times, especially the Greeks thought that everything in the heavens halfway perfect and spotless. They explained the definite markings we see as the man-in-the-moon as a reflection of the Earth by a spotless Moon. The Moon’s phases are simply light and shadow on a ball in the sunlight. Sometimes, when the Moon appears in the daytime, take a small ball, like a golf ball and hold it up to the Moon, while the ball is also in sunlight, and the small ball will exhibit the same phase as the Moon.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
10/11/2018 – Ephemeris – Pegasus the aerobatic horse
Ephemeris for International Day of the Girl, Thursday, October 11th. The Sun will rise at 7:53. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 7:05. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 8:56 this evening.
Rising ever higher in the east at as it gets dark around 9 p.m. can be found one of the great autumn constellations: Pegasus the flying horse of Greek myth. Its most visible feature is a large square of four stars, now standing on one corner. This feature, called the Great Square of Pegasus, represents the front part of the horse’s body. The horse is quite aerobatic because it is seen flying upside down. Remembering that fact, the neck and head is a bent line of stars extending from the right corner star of the square. Its front legs can be seen in a gallop extending to the upper right from the top star of the square. From the left star extend, not hind legs but the constellation of Andromeda, an important constellation in its own right. The Anishinaabek peoples native to this region saw ab upright Moose (Mooz) here.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The constellation art is part of the latest versions of Stellarium. Ojibwe (Anishinaabek) constellation art by Annette S Lee and William Wilson from Ojibwe Sky Star Map Constellation Guide, ISBN 978-0-615-98678-4.
10/10/2018 -Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets for this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, October 10th. The Sun will rise at 7:51. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 14 minutes, setting at 7:06. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 8:23 this evening.
Let’s look at the bright planets today. Three of them are visible in the evening sky. The brilliant Venus will be just too low to spot, setting 9 minutes after the Sun. The problem isn’t its separation from the Sun, but it is also south of the Sun’s path. Jupiter will be in the west-southwest as it gets dark. The big planet will set at 8:40 p.m. Saturn will start the evening low in the southwestern sky and will set at 11:05 p.m. Mars will be low in the south as the skies darken tonight. and is now 60.5 million miles (97.4 million km) away. Mars will be due south at 9:19 p.m., and it will set at 2:03 a.m. Mars is beginning to pick up speed moving eastward, crossing the constellation of Capricornus this month.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
10/09/2018 – Ephemeris – Ada Lovelace Day
Ephemeris for Ada Lovelace Day, Tuesday, October 9th. The Sun will rise at 7:50. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 7:08. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 7:53 this evening.
Ada Lovelace Day is dedicated to Lord Byron’s daughter as the first computer programmer more than a century before the computer as we know it was invented. She worked with Charles Babbage as he designed his Analytical Engine, which would have been the world’s first truly general purpose computer, mechanical though it was. The day is also dedicated to women in the STEM fields: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Two days from now, the 11th will be the International Day of the Girl, promoting the education and possibilities of 52% of the population that aren’t male. Some of the female astronomers I follow on Twitter are astrophysicist Dr. Katherine Mack as @AstroKatie, planetary radar astronomer Alessondra Springmann as @sondy, planetary scientist Carolyn Porco, @carolynporco. These are a few, and in my field of computer programming, I celebrate the late Admiral Grace Hopper.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The analytic Engine was designed to be programed with punch cards.
10/08/2018 – Ephemeris – My investigations in the local native people’s star knowledge
Ephemeris for Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day, depending on your point of view, Monday, October 8th. The Sun will rise at 7:49. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 7:10. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.
For the last six or so years I’ve been studying the constellations and stories of the Anishinaabek people native to this region of North America. The impetus to really dig in came with an invitation to speak at the Grand Traverse Band’s museum. I had admitted that I knew nothing about it, And apparently, the museum curator didn’t know an elder with the knowledge. With a couple of suggestions, I did some research on the Internet and books. Over the years I have introduced these constellations and related their stories, especially the Fisher who brought summer to the Earth. He replaces the Great Bear in the sky, and his bloody tail will swoop down to paint the trees with their autumn colors.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Anishinaabek constellation drawing of the Fisher is from Ojibwe Sky Star Map Constellation Guide by Annette S. Lee, William Wilson, Jeffrey Tibbets and Carl Gawboy available locally and online. They are part of the latest editions of Stellarium, a free planetarium program. Links to it are on the right. Other information and links are available within the Sky Lore tab.
Here’s one of the links: http://www.nativeskywatchers.com/. It also contains links to Lakota star maps and lore.
My story of the Fisher is here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/the-story-of-the-fisher-star/
10/05/2018 – Ephemeris – All about telescopes for the gift giving season
Ephemeris for Friday, October 5th. The Sun will rise at 7:45. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 7:15. The Moon, halfway from last quarter to new, will rise at 4:28 tomorrow morning.
We at the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society get asked a lot about what kind of telescope to get for their beginning astronomer, whether young or old. With the gift-giving season coming upon us, now is the time to plan ahead. This month’s meeting at 8 p.m. at the Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory there will be several types of telescopes there, including one of mine*. There is no right telescope, but there are lots of wrong telescopes, and its not always the telescope itself, but the mounting that’s the problem. Society members will show you what the various telescopes can do, what you need, and don’t need. What’s the best telescope for what price range.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
* I’m currently suffering from a sprained wrist, so I may not be able to bring in my 11″ Dobsonian telescope, but will bring in a much smaller (3″) telescope of similar design instead.
10/04/2018 – Ephemeris – Capricornus the sea-goat
Ephemeris for Thursday, October 4th. The Sun will rise at 7:44. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 7:17. The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:14 tomorrow morning.
Two thousand years ago the southernmost of the constellations of the zodiac was Capricornus the water goat. That’s why the latitude on the earth where the sun is overhead on the winter solstice is called the Tropic of Capricorn. Not anymore, Sagittarius, one constellation west, has that honor today. Actually, Capricornus does need the press. It’s large but made up of dim stars. To me, it looks like a 45-degree isosceles triangle, long side up, but which all the sides are sagging. The constellation is found low in the south at 10 p.m. with Mars on its western edge. The image that is supposed to be represented by the stars is that of a goat whose hindquarters are replaced by a fish’s tail, not a mermaid but a mer-goat.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 