09/02/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing September Skies
Ephemeris for Labor Day, Monday, September 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 8:18, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:07. The Moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 10:29 this evening.
Let’s look at to the skies of September which started yesterday. The Sun will moving at its greatest speed in its retreat to the south. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will drop from 13 hours and 11 minutes today to 11 hours 46 minutes on the 30th. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 53 degrees today, and will descend to 42 degrees on the 30th. The Straits area will see the Sun a degree lower. The season of summer is getting short, so enjoy it while you can. Summer ends and autumn begins at 3:49 a.m. on September 23rd. Mars is in conjunction with the Sun today and Mercury will be in conjunction with the Sun tomorrow.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
September Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for September 2019 (10 p.m. EDT September 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.
September Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for September mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EDT September 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.
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Traverse City | Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | |||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2019-09-01 | 5h25m | 6h04m | 21h29m | 22h08m | 22h08m | 5h25m | 0.08 |
| 2019-09-02 | 5h27m | 6h05m | 21h27m | 22h05m | 22h29m | 5h27m | 0.17 |
| 2019-09-03 | 5h28m | 6h06m | 21h25m | 22h03m | 23h00m | 5h28m | 0.27 |
| 2019-09-04 | 5h30m | 6h08m | 21h23m | 22h01m | 23h33m | 5h30m | 0.37 |
| 2019-09-05 | 5h31m | 6h09m | 21h21m | 21h59m | – | 5h31m | 0.48 |
| 2019-09-06 | 5h33m | 6h10m | 21h19m | 21h56m | 0h10m | 5h33m | 0.59 |
| 2019-09-07 | 5h35m | 6h12m | 21h17m | 21h54m | 0h52m | 5h35m | 0.69 |
| 2019-09-08 | 5h36m | 6h13m | 21h15m | 21h52m | 1h40m | 5h36m | 0.78 |
| 2019-09-09 | 5h38m | 6h14m | 21h13m | 21h50m | 2h32m | 5h38m | 0.86 |
| 2019-09-10 | 5h39m | 6h16m | 21h11m | 21h48m | 3h29m | 5h39m | 0.92 |
| 2019-09-11 | 5h41m | 6h17m | 21h09m | 21h45m | 4h29m | 5h41m | 0.92 |
| 2019-09-12 | 5h42m | 6h18m | 21h07m | 21h43m | 5h30m | 5h42m | 0.96 |
| 2019-09-13 | 5h43m | 6h20m | 21h05m | 21h41m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2019-09-14 | 5h45m | 6h21m | 21h03m | 21h39m | – | – | 1 |
| 2019-09-15 | 5h46m | 6h22m | 21h01m | 21h37m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2019-09-16 | 5h48m | 6h23m | 20h59m | 21h35m | – | – | 0.96 |
| 2019-09-17 | 5h49m | 6h25m | 20h57m | 21h33m | 21h33m | 21h45m | 0.91 |
| 2019-09-18 | 5h51m | 6h26m | 20h55m | 21h30m | 21h30m | 22h11m | 0.85 |
| 2019-09-19 | 5h52m | 6h27m | 20h53m | 21h28m | 21h28m | 22h42m | 0.77 |
| 2019-09-20 | 5h53m | 6h29m | 20h51m | 21h26m | 21h26m | 23h19m | 0.67 |
| 2019-09-21 | 5h55m | 6h30m | 20h49m | 21h24m | 21h24m | – | 0.57 |
| 2019-09-22 | 5h56m | 6h31m | 20h47m | 21h22m | 21h22m | 0h03m | 0.46 |
| 2019-09-23 | 5h57m | 6h32m | 20h45m | 21h20m | 21h20m | 0h57m | 0.35 |
| 2019-09-24 | 5h59m | 6h34m | 20h43m | 21h18m | 21h18m | 2h01m | 0.24 |
| 2019-09-25 | 6h00m | 6h35m | 20h41m | 21h16m | 21h16m | 3h12m | 0.14 |
| 2019-09-26 | 6h01m | 6h36m | 20h39m | 21h14m | 21h14m | 4h30m | 0.07 |
| 2019-09-27 | 6h03m | 6h37m | 20h37m | 21h12m | 21h12m | 5h49m | 0.02 |
| 2019-09-28 | 6h04m | 6h39m | 20h35m | 21h10m | 21h10m | 6h04m | 0 |
| 2019-09-29 | 6h05m | 6h40m | 20h33m | 21h08m | 21h08m | 6h05m | 0.01 |
| 2019-09-30 | 6h07m | 6h41m | 20h32m | 21h06m | 21h06m | 6h07m | 0.06 |
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
Date Time Event
Sep 1 Su Venus: 5.2° E
2 Mo 6:18 am Mars Conjunction
3 Tu 9:26 pm Mercury Superior Conj.
5 Th 11:10 pm First Quarter
6 Fr 2:52 am Moon-Jupiter: 2.4° S
8 Su 5:39 am Moon South Dec.: 22.5° S
8 Su 9:53 am Moon-Saturn: 0°
8 Su 1:35 pm Moon Descending Node
10 Tu 2:18 am Neptune Opposition
13 Fr 9:32 am Moon Apogee: 406400 km
14 Sa 12:33 am Full Moon
20 Fr 12:14 pm Moon-Aldebaran: 2.8° S
21 Sa 10:41 pm Last Quarter
22 Su 9:54 pm Moon North Dec.: 22.7° N
23 Mo 2:30 am Moon Ascending Node
23 Mo 3:49 am Autumnal Equinox
24 Tu 5:15 pm Moon-Beehive: 0.4° S
27 Fr 10:27 pm Moon Perigee: 357800 km
28 Sa 2:26 pm New Moon
29 Su 12:13 am Mercury-Spica: 1.3° N
Oct 1 Tu Venus: 13.1° 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 September, 2019 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Sun 1| 07:04a 08:19p 13:14 | 09:26p 05:58a | Set 10:00p 10%| |Mon 2| 07:06a 08:18p 13:11 | 09:24p 05:59a | Set 10:29p 18%| |Tue 3| 07:07a 08:16p 13:08 | 09:22p 06:01a | Set 10:59p 28%| |Wed 4| 07:08a 08:14p 13:05 | 09:20p 06:02a | Set 11:32p 38%| |Thu 5| 07:09a 08:12p 13:02 | 09:18p 06:03a |F Qtr Set 12:09a 49%| |Fri 6| 07:10a 08:10p 12:59 | 09:15p 06:05a | Set 12:52a 59%| |Sat 7| 07:11a 08:08p 12:56 | 09:13p 06:06a | Set 01:39a 69%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 8| 07:13a 08:07p 12:53 | 09:11p 06:07a | Set 02:32a 77%| |Mon 9| 07:14a 08:05p 12:50 | 09:09p 06:09a | Set 03:29a 85%| |Tue 10| 07:15a 08:03p 12:47 | 09:07p 06:10a | Set 04:29a 91%| |Wed 11| 07:16a 08:01p 12:44 | 09:05p 06:11a | Set 05:29a 96%| |Thu 12| 07:17a 07:59p 12:41 | 09:03p 06:13a | Set 06:30a 99%| |Fri 13| 07:19a 07:57p 12:38 | 09:01p 06:14a | Set 07:31a 100%| |Sat 14| 07:20a 07:55p 12:35 | 08:59p 06:15a |Full Rise 08:36p 99%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 15| 07:21a 07:53p 12:32 | 08:57p 06:17a | Rise 08:58p 97%| |Mon 16| 07:22a 07:51p 12:29 | 08:55p 06:18a | Rise 09:21p 93%| |Tue 17| 07:23a 07:50p 12:26 | 08:53p 06:19a | Rise 09:45p 87%| |Wed 18| 07:24a 07:48p 12:23 | 08:51p 06:21a | Rise 10:11p 80%| |Thu 19| 07:26a 07:46p 12:20 | 08:49p 06:22a | Rise 10:42p 71%| |Fri 20| 07:27a 07:44p 12:17 | 08:47p 06:23a | Rise 11:19p 62%| |Sat 21| 07:28a 07:42p 12:14 | 08:45p 06:24a |L Qtr Rise 12:03a 51%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 22| 07:29a 07:40p 12:10 | 08:43p 06:26a | Rise 12:57a 40%| |Mon 23| 07:30a 07:38p 12:07 | 08:41p 06:27a | Rise 02:01a 30%| |Tue 24| 07:32a 07:36p 12:04 | 08:40p 06:28a | Rise 03:13a 20%| |Wed 25| 07:33a 07:34p 12:01 | 08:38p 06:29a | Rise 04:30a 11%| |Thu 26| 07:34a 07:33p 11:58 | 08:36p 06:31a | Rise 05:49a 5%| |Fri 27| 07:35a 07:31p 11:55 | 08:34p 06:32a | Rise 07:09a 1%| |Sat 28| 07:36a 07:29p 11:52 | 08:32p 06:33a |New Set 07:56p 0%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 29| 07:38a 07:27p 11:49 | 08:30p 06:34a | Set 08:25p 2%| |Mon 30| 07:39a 07:25p 11:46 | 08:28p 06:36a | Set 08:55p 7%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.