Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Monday, March 25th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 8:01, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:35. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 1:37 tomorrow morning.

With the bright moon out of the sky for nearly two weeks it’s time to look for the zodiacal light. It’s is a faint but towering glow that can be seen after the end of astronomical twilight on moonless nights. It is seen in the west in the evening in late winter and early spring and in the east in the morning in late summer and early autumn. The axis of the glow is the ecliptic, the apparent annual path of the Sun in the sky, along which lie the constellations of the zodiac. Right now the end of astronomical twilight is about 9:45 p.m. and advancing at a rate of a minute or two each night. Go to a spot with a dark western sky, no big cities or towns out that way. Zodiacal light is caused by dust spread out around the Sun.

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

Addendum

Much enhanced Zodiacal Light from the my back yard at 9:31 p.m. March 16, 2018, 5 minutes after the official end of astronomical twilight. Note the Pleiades top left of center and the constellation of Ares below and right of center. Canon EOS Rebel T5 18mm f.l., f/3.5, 6 sec. ISO 12,800 . The clouds on the left appear to be illuminated by the lights of the towns of Beulah and Frankfort 20+ miles away.

I’ve added the approximate ecliptic line from a Stellarium view of the same date and time.