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Archive for January, 2019

01/04/2019 – Ephemeris – A talk about astrophotography tonight at the GTAS by Dan Dall’olmo

January 4, 2019 Comments off

Ephemeris for Friday, January 4th. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:15. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:55 tomorrow morning.

Tonight’s first meeting of the year of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 8 p.m. will feature an illustrated talk by Dan Dall’olmo who has been quite successful in the field of astrophotography, or photography of the heavens. My own introduction to astrophotography was as a teenager in the day of file and darkroom chemicals. Things have changed a lot since then. Starting at 9 p.m. if it’s clear there will be a star party featuring the dark winter sky wonders including the Great Orion Nebula, a star nursery. Our next meeting, February first will be our annual telescope clinic to help new and otherwise frustrated telescope owners understand and use their telescopes.

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

Addendum

Frame grabs

From a time lapse video by Dan Dall’olmo showing the comet motion as it passed by the Earth the weekend of December 14-16, 2018.
The video is on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/W4GvtPZOE9g

Categories: Ephemeris Program, GTAS Outreach Event Tags: , ,

01/03/2019 – Ephemeris – The Quadrantid meteor shower will reach its peak this evening

January 3, 2019 Comments off

Ephemeris for Thursday, January 3rd. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 5:14. The Moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 7:01 tomorrow morning.

Of the three most active meteor showers, year after year, the Quadrantids of January, Perseids of August, and Geminids of December, only the Quadrantids are not affected by a bright Moon this year. The Quadrantids, which will reach peak at 9:20 this evening have their radiant about due north at that time, only a few degrees above the horizon. The peak is rather narrow, 4 hours to achieve at least half maximum, which is 120 meteors an hour if the radiant was overhead. The radiant, from which the meteors will come from is very low, so will be the numbers. However a low radiant means that the meteor streaks all over the sky will be longer as the meteoroids strike the atmosphere overhead at a shallow angle.

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

Addendum

Quadrantid radiant at peak

The location of the Quadrantid radiant, off the handle of the Big Dipper, at 9:20 p.m. January 3, 2019 for the peak of the meteor shower. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.

 

 

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Meteor Shower Tags:

01/02/2019 – Ephemeris – The first look at the bright planets for the new year

January 2, 2019 Comments off

Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 2nd. The Sun will rise at 8:20, the latest sunrise. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 53 minutes, setting at 5:13. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 6:02 tomorrow morning.

Let’s look at the planets for this week. We start with the Earth which will reach perihelion, its closest to the Sun of the year at 4:49 tomorrow morning at 91.3 million miles (147.1 million kilometers). Mars will be in the southwestern sky this evening and will set at 11:59 p.m. It’s too far away to see much detail in a small telescope. In the morning sky we have Venus rising at 4:31 a.m. tomorrow and this morning is prominent in the southeastern sky as our morning star. In small telescopes it is a fat crescent. Jupiter will rise tomorrow at 6:04 a.m. will be to the right of the Moon then. Mercury and Saturn are not visible, though the latter passed behind the Sun yesterday to become a morning planet.

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

Addendum

Our evening planet

Mars and the constellations at 8 p.m. tonight January 2, 2019. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.

Morning planets

Morning planets Venus and Jupiter this morning, January 2, 2019, at 7 a.m.. Created using Stellarium.

Binocular Moon

The waning crescent Moon as it should appear this morning with earthshine in binoculars. Created using Stellarium.

Telescopic planets

Venus and Jupiter with the same magnification at 7 a.m. this morning January 2, 2019. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

Planets and the Moon on a single night

Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on January 2, 2019. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 3rd. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

 

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Planets Tags: , , ,

01/01/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing the month of January 2019

January 1, 2019 Comments off

Ephemeris for New Years Day, Tuesday, January 1st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:12. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 4:59 tomorrow morning. | Happy New Year. Let’s preview the month of January. We’re a day from the latest sunrise at about the same time as today, 8:20 a.m. and will back down to 8:03 by the 31st. Sunset times are currently increasing by a minute a day from 5:12 p.m. today to 5:49 at month’s end. Listeners will have about the same sunrise time in Ludington, Interlochen/Traverse City, Petoskey and Mackinaw City, but the sunset times will vary markedly with the sunset times earlier in the north than the south. The Quadrantid meteor shower will reach peak on the 3rd in the evening. Also on the 3rd the Earth will be its closest to the Sun for the entire year. And on the 20th there will be a total lunar eclipse in the evening.

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

Addenda

January Evening Star Chart

January Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for January 2019 (9 p.m. EST January 15, 2019). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EST 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 9 p.m. and 6 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.

January Morning Star Chart

January Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for January mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EST January 15, 2019). 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, and
  • Extend like a spike to Spica,
  • The Summer Triangle is in red.
  • Quadr on the evening and morning star charts is the radiant of the Quadrantid meteor shower which peaks at 9:20 p.m. on the evening of the 3rd.

Twilight

Traverse City EST
Morning twilight Evening twilight Dark night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2019-01-01 6h35m 7h10m 18h21m 18h57m 18h57m 3h54m 0.19
2019-01-02 6h35m 7h10m 18h22m 18h58m 18h58m 4h59m 0.11
2019-01-03 6h35m 7h11m 18h23m 18h58m 18h58m 6h02m 0.05
2019-01-04 6h35m 7h11m 18h24m 18h59m 18h59m 6h35m 0.02
2019-01-05 6h35m 7h11m 18h25m 19h00m 19h00m 6h35m 0
2019-01-06 6h35m 7h11m 18h26m 19h01m 19h01m 6h35m 0
2019-01-07 6h35m 7h10m 18h27m 19h02m 19h02m 6h35m 0.03
2019-01-08 6h35m 7h10m 18h28m 19h03m 19h56m 6h35m 0.07
2019-01-09 6h35m 7h10m 18h29m 19h04m 20h55m 6h35m 0.12
2019-01-10 6h35m 7h10m 18h30m 19h05m 21h55m 6h35m 0.2
2019-01-11 6h35m 7h10m 18h31m 19h06m 22h56m 6h35m 0.28
2019-01-12 6h34m 7h09m 18h32m 19h07m 23h57m 6h34m 0.37
2019-01-13 6h34m 7h09m 18h33m 19h08m – 6h34m 0.47
2019-01-14 6h34m 7h09m 18h34m 19h09m 0h59m 6h34m 0.57
2019-01-15 6h34m 7h08m 18h35m 19h10m 2h04m 6h34m 0.68
2019-01-16 6h33m 7h08m 18h36m 19h11m 3h11m 6h33m 0.78
2019-01-17 6h33m 7h08m 18h37m 19h12m 4h21m 6h33m 0.87
2019-01-18 6h32m 7h07m 18h38m 19h13m 5h31m 6h32m 0.94
2019-01-19 6h32m 7h07m 18h40m 19h14m – – 0.98
2019-01-20 6h31m 7h06m 18h41m 19h15m – – 0.98
2019-01-21 6h31m 7h05m 18h42m 19h17m – – 1
2019-01-22 6h30m 7h05m 18h43m 19h18m 19h18m 19h41m 0.98
2019-01-23 6h29m 7h04m 18h44m 19h19m 19h19m 20h59m 0.93
2019-01-24 6h29m 7h03m 18h46m 19h20m 19h20m 22h15m 0.86
2019-01-25 6h28m 7h03m 18h47m 19h21m 19h21m 23h28m 0.76
2019-01-26 6h27m 7h02m 18h48m 19h22m 19h22m – 0.66
2019-01-27 6h27m 7h01m 18h49m 19h24m 19h24m 0h38m 0.55
2019-01-28 6h26m 7h00m 18h50m 19h25m 19h25m 1h46m 0.44
2019-01-29 6h25m 6h59m 18h52m 19h26m 19h26m 2h52m 0.33
2019-01-30 6h24m 6h58m 18h53m 19h27m 19h27m 3h56m 0.24
2019-01-31 6h23m 6h57m 18h54m 19h28m 19h28m 4h55m 0.16

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

See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2019/09/27/

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

  Date Time Event
Jan 1 Tu Venus: 46.9° W
1 Tu 04:50:00 PM Moon-Venus: 1.4° S
1 Tu 11:53:00 PM Saturn Conjunction
3 Th 02:37:00 AM Moon-Jupiter: 3.4° S
3 Th 04:59:00 AM Perihelion: 0.9833 AU
3 Th 09:28:00 PM Quadrantid Shower: ZHR = 120
5 Sa 01:46:00 PM Moon South Dec.: 21.6° S
5 Sa 08:28:00 PM New Moon
5 Sa 08:41:00 PM Partial Solar Eclipse*
5 Sa 11:59:00 PM Venus Elongation: 47° W
6 Su 07:08:00 PM Moon Descending Node
8 Tu 11:29:00 PM Moon Apogee: 406100 km
14 Mo 01:46:00 AM First Quarter
17 Th 01:20:00 PM Moon-Aldebaran: 1.6° S
19 Sa 06:20:00 PM Moon North Dec.: 21.5° N
20 Su 05:48:00 PM Moon Ascending Node
21 Mo 12:12:00 AM Total Lunar Eclipse
21 Mo 12:16:00 AM Full Moon
21 Mo 10:32:00 AM Moon-Beehive: 0.6° N
21 Mo 02:58:00 PM Moon Perigee: 357300 km
22 Tu 10:10:00 AM Venus-Jupiter: 2.4° N
22 Tu 08:41:00 PM Moon-Regulus: 2.5° S
27 Su 04:11:00 PM Last Quarter
29 Tu 09:46:00 PM Mercury Superior Conj.
30 We 06:54:00 PM Moon-Jupiter: 3° S
31 Th 12:36:00 PM Moon-Venus: 0.1° S
Feb 1 Fr Venus: 45.1° W

* Eclipse affects east Asia and the north Pacific

All event times are given for UTC-5:00: Eastern Standard or Daylight Time

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

Ephemeris of Sky Events for NMC Observatory
January 2019 – Local time zone: EST
Date Sun Twilight* Moon Illum
Rise Set Hours End Start Phase R/S** Time Fractn
Tue 1 08:20a 05:12p 8:52 06:23p 07:09a Rise 04:59a 15
Wed 2 08:20a 05:13p 8:53 06:23p 07:09a Rise 06:02a 9
Thu 3 08:20a 05:14p 8:54 06:24p 07:09a Rise 07:01a 4
Fri 4 08:20a 05:15p 8:55 06:25p 07:10a Rise 07:55a 1
Sat 5 08:19a 05:16p 8:56 06:26p 07:10a New Set 05:08p 0
Sun 6 08:19a 05:17p 8:57 06:27p 07:09a Set 06:01p 1
Mon 7 08:19a 05:18p 8:59 06:28p 07:09a Set 06:57p 3
Tue 8 08:19a 05:19p 9:00 06:29p 07:09a Set 07:55p 8
Wed 9 08:19a 05:20p 9:01 06:30p 07:09a Set 08:55p 13
Thu 10 08:18a 05:22p 9:03 06:31p 07:09a Set 09:55p 20
Fri 11 08:18a 05:23p 9:04 06:32p 07:09a Set 10:55p 28
Sat 12 08:18a 05:24p 9:06 06:33p 07:08a Set 11:56p 37
Sun 13 08:17a 05:25p 9:08 06:34p 07:08a Set 12:59a 47
Mon 14 08:17a 05:26p 9:09 06:35p 07:08a F Qtr Set 02:04a 57
Tue 15 08:16a 05:28p 9:11 06:36p 07:07a Set 03:11a 67
Wed 16 08:16a 05:29p 9:13 06:38p 07:07a Set 04:20a 77
Thu 17 08:15a 05:30p 9:15 06:39p 07:07a Set 05:31a 86
Fri 18 08:14a 05:31p 9:17 06:40p 07:06a Set 06:39a 93
Sat 19 08:14a 05:33p 9:19 06:41p 07:06a Set 07:41a 98
Sun 20 08:13a 05:34p 9:21 06:42p 07:05a Set 08:36a 100
Mon 21 08:12a 05:35p 9:23 06:43p 07:04a Full Rise 06:23p 99
Tue 22 08:11a 05:37p 9:25 06:44p 07:04a Rise 07:41p 95
Wed 23 08:11a 05:38p 9:27 06:46p 07:03a Rise 08:59p 89
Thu 24 08:10a 05:40p 9:29 06:47p 07:02a Rise 10:14p 80
Fri 25 08:09a 05:41p 9:32 06:48p 07:02a Rise 11:27p 70
Sat 26 08:08a 05:42p 9:34 06:49p 07:01a Rise 12:38a 60
Sun 27 08:07a 05:44p 9:36 06:51p 07:00a L Qtr Rise 01:46a 49
Mon 28 08:06a 05:45p 9:39 06:52p 06:59a Rise 02:52a 38
Tue 29 08:05a 05:46p 9:41 06:53p 06:58a Rise 03:55a 29
Wed 30 08:04a 05:48p 9:44 06:54p 06:57a Rise 04:55a 20
Thu 31 08:03a 05:49p 9:46 06:56p 06:56a Rise 05:50a 13
* Nautical Twilight
* Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview