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08/01/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing August skies

August 1, 2019 Comments off

Ephemeris for Thursday, August 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 40 minutes, setting at 9:08, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:29. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 9:54 this evening.

Let’s look ahead at the month of August. Daylight hours will decrease from 14 hours and 40 minutes today to 13 hours 17 minutes on the 31st. The altitude of the Sun at local noon, that is degrees of angle above the horizon will decrease from 63 degrees today to just over 53 degrees on the 31st. Straits area listeners can subtract one degree from those angles. Local noon, when the Sun is due south, is about 1:43 p.m. The Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak during the morning hours of the 13th, by then the Moon will be nearly full. On the nights between now and then when the moon has set these meteor numbers will be building to the peak. Jupiter and Saturn will be our easily visible evening planets.

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

Addendum

August Evening Star Chart

August Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for August 2019 (10 p.m. EDT August 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge.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 5 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (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 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.

August Morning Star Chart

August morning star chart

Star Chart for August mornings 2019 (5 a.m. EDT August 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

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.
  • Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
  • 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.
  • PerR is the radiant of the Perseid meteor shower (Peaks on the 13th)

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

EDT
Traverse
City		 Morning twilight Evening twilight Dark night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2019-08-01 4h30m 5h18m 22h27m 23h16m 23h16m 4h30m 0.01
2019-08-02 4h31m 5h20m 22h26m 23h14m 23h14m 4h31m 0.04
2019-08-03 4h33m 5h21m 22h24m 23h12m 23h12m 4h33m 0.11
2019-08-04 4h35m 5h23m 22h22m 23h10m 23h33m 4h35m 0.2
2019-08-05 4h37m 5h24m 22h21m 23h07m – 4h37m 0.3
2019-08-06 4h39m 5h26m 22h19m 23h05m 0h01m 4h39m 0.42
2019-08-07 4h41m 5h27m 22h17m 23h03m 0h30m 4h41m 0.53
2019-08-08 4h43m 5h29m 22h15m 23h01m 1h00m 4h43m 0.64
2019-08-09 4h45m 5h30m 22h14m 22h59m 1h33m 4h45m 0.74
2019-08-10 4h47m 5h32m 22h12m 22h57m 2h11m 4h47m 0.83
2019-08-11 4h49m 5h33m 22h10m 22h54m 2h54m 4h49m 0.9
2019-08-12 4h51m 5h35m 22h08m 22h52m 3h44m 4h51m 0.9
2019-08-13 4h52m 5h36m 22h06m 22h50m 4h38m 4h52m 0.95
2019-08-14 4h54m 5h38m 22h04m 22h48m – – 0.98
2019-08-15 4h56m 5h39m 22h03m 22h46m – – 1
2019-08-16 4h58m 5h41m 22h01m 22h43m – – 0.99
2019-08-17 5h00m 5h42m 21h59m 22h41m – – 0.97
2019-08-18 5h01m 5h43m 21h57m 22h39m – – 0.93
2019-08-19 5h03m 5h45m 21h55m 22h37m 22h37m 22h53m 0.87
2019-08-20 5h05m 5h46m 21h53m 22h34m 22h34m 23h16m 0.8
2019-08-21 5h07m 5h48m 21h51m 22h32m 22h32m 23h41m 0.72
2019-08-22 5h08m 5h49m 21h49m 22h30m 22h30m – 0.62
2019-08-23 5h10m 5h51m 21h47m 22h28m 22h28m 0h10m 0.52
2019-08-24 5h12m 5h52m 21h45m 22h25m 22h25m 0h43m 0.41
2019-08-25 5h14m 5h54m 21h43m 22h23m 22h23m 1h23m 0.3
2019-08-26 5h15m 5h55m 21h41m 22h21m 22h21m 2h13m 0.2
2019-08-27 5h17m 5h56m 21h39m 22h19m 22h19m 3h13m 0.11
2019-08-28 5h19m 5h58m 21h37m 22h16m 22h16m 4h23m 0.05
2019-08-29 5h20m 5h59m 21h35m 22h14m 22h14m 5h20m 0.01
2019-08-30 5h22m 6h01m 21h33m 22h12m 22h12m 5h22m 0
2019-08-31 5h24m 6h02m 21h31m 22h10m 22h10m 5h24m 0.03

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/2018/09/27/.

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

Aug	1	Th			Venus: 3.6° W
 	2	Fr	 3:08 am	Moon Perigee: 359400 km
 	7	We	 1:31 pm	First Quarter
 	9	Fr	 6:53 pm	Moon-Jupiter: 2.6° S
 	9	Fr	 6:59 pm	Mercury Elongation: 19° W
 	12	Mo	12:28 am	Moon South Dec.: 22.4° S
 	12	Mo	 6:05 am	Moon-Saturn: 0°
 	12	Mo	10:45 am	Moon Descending Node
 	12	Mo	12:29 pm	Jupiter-Antares: 6.9° N
 	13	Tu	 2:53 am	Perseid Shower: ZHR = 90
 	14	We	 1:44 am	Venus Superior Conj.
 	15	Th	 8:29 am	Full Moon
 	17	Sa	12:24 am	Mercury-Beehive: 1.2° S
 	17	Sa	 6:50 am	Moon Apogee: 406200 km
 	23	Fr	10:56 am	Last Quarter
 	24	Sa	 5:24 am	Moon-Aldebaran: 2.5° S
 	26	Mo	 1:53 pm	Moon North Dec.: 22.5° N
 	26	Mo	 9:50 pm	Moon Ascending Node
 	28	We	 7:31 am	Moon-Beehive: 0.2° S
 	30	Fr	 6:37 am	New Moon
 	30	Fr	11:57 am	Moon Perigee: 357200 km
Sep	1	Su				Venus: 5.2° E

All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving 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

     LU                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
     August, 2019    Local time zone: EDT
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
     |      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
     +=======================================================================+
     |Thu  1| 06:28a  09:08p  14:40 | 10:24p  05:12a |      Set  09:54p    1%|
     |Fri  2| 06:29a  09:07p  14:37 | 10:22p  05:14a |      Set  10:31p    5%|
     |Sat  3| 06:31a  09:06p  14:35 | 10:20p  05:15a |      Set  11:03p   12%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun  4| 06:32a  09:04p  14:32 | 10:19p  05:17a |      Set  11:33p   21%|
     |Mon  5| 06:33a  09:03p  14:30 | 10:17p  05:18a |      Set  12:01a   31%|
     |Tue  6| 06:34a  09:02p  14:27 | 10:15p  05:20a |      Set  12:29a   42%|
     |Wed  7| 06:35a  09:00p  14:25 | 10:14p  05:21a |F Qtr Set  01:00a   53%|
     |Thu  8| 06:36a  08:59p  14:22 | 10:12p  05:23a |      Set  01:33a   64%|
     |Fri  9| 06:37a  08:57p  14:20 | 10:10p  05:24a |      Set  02:11a   73%|
     |Sat 10| 06:39a  08:56p  14:17 | 10:08p  05:26a |      Set  02:54a   82%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 11| 06:40a  08:55p  14:14 | 10:06p  05:27a |      Set  03:44a   89%|
     |Mon 12| 06:41a  08:53p  14:12 | 10:05p  05:29a |      Set  04:38a   94%|
     |Tue 13| 06:42a  08:51p  14:09 | 10:03p  05:30a |      Set  05:36a   98%|
     |Wed 14| 06:43a  08:50p  14:06 | 10:01p  05:32a |      Set  06:36a  100%|
     |Thu 15| 06:44a  08:48p  14:03 | 09:59p  05:33a |Full  Rise 09:17p  100%|
     |Fri 16| 06:46a  08:47p  14:01 | 09:57p  05:35a |      Rise 09:44p   98%|
     |Sat 17| 06:47a  08:45p  13:58 | 09:55p  05:36a |      Rise 10:08p   94%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 18| 06:48a  08:44p  13:55 | 09:53p  05:38a |      Rise 10:31p   89%|
     |Mon 19| 06:49a  08:42p  13:52 | 09:51p  05:39a |      Rise 10:53p   83%|
     |Tue 20| 06:50a  08:40p  13:49 | 09:49p  05:41a |      Rise 11:16p   75%|
     |Wed 21| 06:51a  08:39p  13:47 | 09:47p  05:42a |      Rise 11:41p   66%|
     |Thu 22| 06:53a  08:37p  13:44 | 09:46p  05:44a |      Rise 12:10a   56%|
     |Fri 23| 06:54a  08:35p  13:41 | 09:44p  05:45a |L Qtr Rise 12:43a   46%|
     |Sat 24| 06:55a  08:34p  13:38 | 09:42p  05:47a |      Rise 01:24a   36%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 25| 06:56a  08:32p  13:35 | 09:40p  05:48a |      Rise 02:13a   26%|
     |Mon 26| 06:57a  08:30p  13:32 | 09:38p  05:50a |      Rise 03:13a   16%|
     |Tue 27| 06:59a  08:28p  13:29 | 09:36p  05:51a |      Rise 04:23a    9%|
     |Wed 28| 07:00a  08:27p  13:26 | 09:34p  05:52a |      Rise 05:40a    3%|
     |Thu 29| 07:01a  08:25p  13:23 | 09:32p  05:54a |      Rise 07:00a    0%|
     |Fri 30| 07:02a  08:23p  13:20 | 09:30p  05:55a |New   Set  08:59p    1%|
     |Sat 31| 07:03a  08:21p  13:17 | 09:28p  05:57a |      Set  09:31p    4%|
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     * Nautical Twilight
     ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview