Home > Ephemeris Program, Month preview > 02/28/2020 – Ephemeris – Previewing March Skies

02/28/2020 – Ephemeris – Previewing March Skies

February 28, 2020

Ephemeris for Friday, February 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 6:28, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:21. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 11:30 this evening.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of March. The Sun will pass the celestial equator as the promising season of spring will begin. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 11 hours and 11 minutes Sunday to 12 hours 45 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 38 degrees Sunday and will ascend to nearly 50 degrees on the 31st. Spring will start on the 19th at 11:50 p.m. Part of the fault for that early date is the switch to daylight saving time this early in the year a while back. The Gregorian calendar reform of 1582 will keep the vernal equinox from falling much further back. So spring will come a bit early this year, calendar-wise.

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

Addendum

March Evening Star Chart

March Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for March 2020 (10 p.m. EDT March 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. The brilliant planet Venus is our Evening Star in the West at chart time. 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).

March Morning Star Chart

March Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for March mornings 2020 (6 a.m. EST March 15, 2020). 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.
  • The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
  • Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus.
  • The Summer Triangle appears in red.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

      EST/EDT        
  Morning twilight Evening twilight Dark night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2020-03-01 5h43m 6h17m 19h33m 20h06m 0h33m 5h43m 0.41
2020-03-02 5h41m 6h15m 19h34m 20h08m 1h36m 5h41m 0.52
2020-03-03 5h39m 6h13m 19h35m 20h09m 2h40m 5h39m 0.62
2020-03-04 5h37m 6h11m 19h36m 20h10m 3h42m 5h37m 0.73
2020-03-05 5h36m 6h10m 19h38m 20h12m 4h40m 5h36m 0.82
2020-03-06 5h34m 6h08m 19h39m 20h13m 5h31m 5h34m 0.91
2020-03-07 5h32m 6h06m 19h40m 20h14m – – 0.97
2020-03-08 6h30m 7h04m 20h42m 21h16m – – 0.97
2020-03-09 6h28m 7h02m 20h43m 21h17m – – 1
2020-03-10 6h26m 7h01m 20h44m 21h18m – – 1
2020-03-11 6h25m 6h59m 20h46m 21h20m 21h20m 22h26m 0.96
2020-03-12 6h23m 6h57m 20h47m 21h21m 21h21m 23h45m 0.9
2020-03-13 6h21m 6h55m 20h48m 21h23m 21h23m – 0.81
2020-03-14 6h19m 6h53m 20h50m 21h24m 21h24m 1h01m 0.71
2020-03-15 6h17m 6h51m 20h51m 21h25m 21h25m 2h14m 0.6
2020-03-16 6h15m 6h49m 20h52m 21h27m 21h27m 3h21m 0.49
2020-03-17 6h13m 6h48m 20h53m 21h28m 21h28m 4h21m 0.38
2020-03-18 6h11m 6h46m 20h55m 21h30m 21h30m 5h13m 0.29
2020-03-19 6h09m 6h44m 20h56m 21h31m 21h31m 5h55m 0.2
2020-03-20 6h11m 6h46m 21h01m 21h36m 21h36m 6h11m 0.12
2020-03-21 6h09m 6h44m 21h03m 21h38m 21h38m 6h09m 0.07
2020-03-22 6h07m 6h42m 21h04m 21h39m 21h39m 6h07m 0.03
2020-03-23 6h04m 6h40m 21h05m 21h41m 21h41m 6h04m 0
2020-03-24 6h02m 6h38m 21h07m 21h42m 21h42m 6h02m 0
2020-03-25 6h00m 6h36m 21h08m 21h44m 21h44m 6h00m 0.02
2020-03-26 5h58m 6h34m 21h10m 21h45m 22h23m 5h58m 0.05
2020-03-27 5h56m 6h32m 21h11m 21h47m 23h25m 5h56m 0.1
2020-03-28 5h54m 6h30m 21h12m 21h48m – 5h54m 0.17
2020-03-29 5h52m 6h28m 21h14m 21h50m 0h28m 5h52m 0.25
2020-03-30 5h50m 6h26m 21h15m 21h51m 1h31m 5h50m 0.35
2020-03-31 5h48m 6h24m 21h16m 21h53m 2h33m 5h48m 0.45

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
Mar 1  Su            Venus: 44.6° E
    2  Mo  02:57 pm  First Quarter
    4  We  09:58 am  Moon Ascending Node
    4  We  08:34 pm  Moon North Dec.: 23.4° N
    6  Fr  04:08 pm  Moon-Beehive: 1.1° S
    8  Su  08:09 am  Neptune Conjunction
    9  Mo  01:48 pm  Full Moon
   10  Tu  02:33 am  Moon Perigee: 357100 km
   16  Mo  05:34 am  Last Quarter
   16  Mo  09:00 pm  Moon Descending Node
   17  Tu  10:07 am  Moon South Dec.: 23.5° S
   18  We  04:19 am  Moon-Mars: 0.8° N
   18  We  06:18 am  Moon-Jupiter: 1.6° N
   18  We  08:04 pm  Moon-Saturn: 2.3° N
   19  Th  11:50 pm  Vernal Equinox
   20  Fr  06:24 am  Mars-Jupiter: 0.7° N
   21  Sa  01:48 pm  Moon-Mercury: 4° N
   23  Mo  09:59 pm  Mercury Greatest Elongation: 27.8° W
   24  Tu  05:28 am  New Moon
   24  Tu  11:23 am  Moon Apogee: 406700 km
   24  Tu  05:59 pm  Venus Greatest Elongation: 46.1° E
   31  Tu  12:51 pm  Moon Ascending Node
   31  Tu  04:00 pm  Mars-Saturn: 0.9° N
Apr 1  We            Venus: 45.9° E

All event times prior to 2 a.m. March 8 are given for UTC-5 Eastern Standard Time, after that time are given for UTC-4 Eastern 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

LU                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
March, 2020    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sun  1| 07:19a  06:31p  11:11 | 07:34p  06:16a |      Set  01:36a   42%|
|Mon  2| 07:17a  06:32p  11:14 | 07:35p  06:14a |F Qtr Set  02:39a   52%|
|Tue  3| 07:15a  06:33p  11:18 | 07:37p  06:12a |      Set  03:41a   62%|
|Wed  4| 07:14a  06:35p  11:21 | 07:38p  06:11a |      Set  04:39a   72%|
|Thu  5| 07:12a  06:36p  11:24 | 07:39p  06:09a |      Set  05:31a   81%|
|Fri  6| 07:10a  06:37p  11:27 | 07:40p  06:07a |      Set  06:15a   89%|
|Sat  7| 07:08a  06:39p  11:30 | 07:42p  06:05a |      Set  06:54a   95%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
| EDT  |      Time Change      |                |                       |
|Sun  8| 08:07a  07:40p  11:33 | 08:43p  07:04a |      Set  08:27a   99%|
|Mon  9| 08:05a  07:41p  11:36 | 08:44p  07:02a |Full  Rise 07:46p  100%|
|Tue 10| 08:03a  07:43p  11:39 | 08:46p  07:00a |      Rise 09:07p   97%|
|Wed 11| 08:01a  07:44p  11:42 | 08:47p  06:58a |      Rise 10:26p   92%|
|Thu 12| 07:59a  07:45p  11:46 | 08:48p  06:56a |      Rise 11:45p   85%|
|Fri 13| 07:57a  07:47p  11:49 | 08:50p  06:54a |      Rise 01:01a   75%|
|Sat 14| 07:56a  07:48p  11:52 | 08:51p  06:53a |      Rise 02:14a   65%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 07:54a  07:49p  11:55 | 08:52p  06:51a |      Rise 03:21a   54%|
|Mon 16| 07:52a  07:50p  11:58 | 08:54p  06:49a |L Qtr Rise 04:21a   44%|
|Tue 17| 07:50a  07:52p  12:01 | 08:55p  06:47a |      Rise 05:12a   34%|
|Wed 18| 07:48a  07:53p  12:04 | 08:56p  06:45a |      Rise 05:55a   25%|
|Thu 19| 07:46a  07:54p  12:07 | 08:58p  06:43a |      Rise 06:31a   17%|
|Fri 20| 07:44a  07:55p  12:11 | 08:59p  06:41a |      Rise 07:00a   10%|
|Sat 21| 07:43a  07:57p  12:14 | 09:00p  06:39a |      Rise 07:26a    5%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 07:41a  07:58p  12:17 | 09:02p  06:37a |      Rise 07:49a    2%|
|Mon 23| 07:39a  07:59p  12:20 | 09:03p  06:35a |      Rise 08:11a    0%|
|Tue 24| 07:37a  08:01p  12:23 | 09:04p  06:33a |New   Set  08:21p    1%|
|Wed 25| 07:35a  08:02p  12:26 | 09:06p  06:31a |      Set  09:21p    2%|
|Thu 26| 07:33a  08:03p  12:29 | 09:07p  06:29a |      Set  10:22p    6%|
|Fri 27| 07:31a  08:04p  12:32 | 09:09p  06:27a |      Set  11:25p   11%|
|Sat 28| 07:30a  08:06p  12:36 | 09:10p  06:25a |      Set  12:28a   18%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 29| 07:28a  08:07p  12:39 | 09:11p  06:23a |      Set  01:31a   26%|
|Mon 30| 07:26a  08:08p  12:42 | 09:13p  06:21a |      Set  02:32a   35%|
|Tue 31| 07:24a  08:09p  12:45 | 09:14p  06:20a |      Set  03:30a   45%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

 

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