Home > Ephemeris Program > 03/01/2021 – Ephemeris – Previewing March skies

03/01/2021 – Ephemeris – Previewing March skies

March 1, 2021

This is Ephemeris for Monday, March 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 6:30, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:18. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 9:33 this evening.

Let’s preview the month of March. In March the increase in daylight hours is at its greatest, with Spring 3 weeks away. Daylight hours will increase from 11 hours and 11 minutes today to 12 hours and 44 minutes on the 31st. Along with that the altitude of the Sun at local noon will increase from 38 degrees today to 49 ½ degrees at month’s end. Local noon today, by the way, for Interlochen and Traverse City is 12:54 pm, which is mainly due to the fact that our standard time meridian happens to run through Philadelphia. That’s before daylight time starts on the 14th. On that date local noon will be 1:50 pm. Spring will begin later this month on the 20th when the Sun will pass overhead for someone on the equator heading northward.

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

Addendum

March Evening Star Chart

March 2021 Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for March 2021 (10 p.m. EDT March 15, 2021). 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. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour and 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere (rotating star finder) you may have to set it to 45 minutes or 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than your current time.

Note the chart times of 10 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.

March Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for March mornings 2021 (6 a.m. EST March 15, 2021). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

The morning planets have yet to rise at chart time.

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, and
  • Extend it as a spike to Spica.
  • 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.
2021-03-01 5h43m 6h17m 19h32m 20h06m 20h06m 21h34m 0.89
2021-03-02 5h41m 6h15m 19h33m 20h07m 20h07m 22h51m 0.81
2021-03-03 5h40m 6h14m 19h35m 20h09m 20h09m – 0.71
2021-03-04 5h38m 6h12m 19h36m 20h10m 20h10m 0h09m 0.6
2021-03-05 5h36m 6h10m 19h37m 20h11m 20h11m 1h27m 0.49
2021-03-06 5h34m 6h08m 19h39m 20h13m 20h13m 2h41m 0.37
2021-03-07 5h32m 6h07m 19h40m 20h14m 20h14m 3h48m 0.27
2021-03-08 5h31m 6h05m 19h41m 20h15m 20h15m 4h47m 0.18
2021-03-09 5h29m 6h03m 19h43m 20h17m 20h17m 5h29m 0.11
2021-03-10 5h27m 6h01m 19h44m 20h18m 20h18m 5h27m 0.05
2021-03-11 5h25m 5h59m 19h45m 20h20m 20h20m 5h25m 0.02
2021-03-12 5h23m 5h57m 19h47m 20h21m 20h21m 5h23m 0
2021-03-13 5h21m 5h56m 19h48m 20h22m 20h22m 5h21m 0.01
2021-03-14 6h19m 6h54m 20h49m 21h24m 21h24m 6h19m 0.03
2021-03-15 6h17m 6h52m 20h51m 21h25m 22h13m 6h17m 0.07
2021-03-16 6h15m 6h50m 20h52m 21h26m 23h15m 6h15m 0.13
2021-03-17 6h13m 6h48m 20h53m 21h28m – 6h13m 0.2
2021-03-18 6h11m 6h46m 20h54m 21h29m 0h18m 6h11m 0.28
2021-03-19 6h09m 6h44m 20h56m 21h31m 1h21m 6h09m 0.37
2021-03-20 6h11m 6h46m 21h01m 21h36m 2h23m 6h11m 0.46
2021-03-21 6h09m 6h44m 21h02m 21h38m 3h23m 6h09m 0.56
2021-03-22 6h07m 6h42m 21h04m 21h39m 4h19m 6h07m 0.66
2021-03-23 6h05m 6h40m 21h05m 21h41m 5h08m 6h05m 0.75
2021-03-24 6h03m 6h38m 21h07m 21h42m 5h51m 6h03m 0.84
2021-03-25 6h01m 6h36m 21h08m 21h43m – – 0.91
2021-03-26 5h59m 6h34m 21h09m 21h45m – – 0.97
2021-03-27 5h57m 6h32m 21h11m 21h46m – – 1
2021-03-28 5h55m 6h31m 21h12m 21h48m – – 1
2021-03-29 5h52m 6h29m 21h13m 21h50m – – 0.97
2021-03-30 5h50m 6h27m 21h15m 21h51m 21h51m 22h50m 0.92
2021-03-31 5h48m 6h25m 21h16m 21h53m 21h53m – 0.84

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
Mar  1  Mo            Venus: 6.3° W
     2  Tu  12:19 am  Moon Perigee: 365400 km
     3  We   6:32 pm  Mars-Pleiades: 2.6° S
     5  Fr  12:11 am  Mercury-Jupiter: 0.3° N
     5  Fr   7:56 pm  Moon Descending Node
     5  Fr   8:30 pm  Last Quarter
     6  Sa   5:59 am  Mercury Greatest Elongation: 27.3° W
                      In morning. Not the best for our latitude.
     7  Su   3:45 pm  Moon South Dec.: 25.2° S
     9  Tu   6:02 pm  Moon-Saturn: 3.9° N
    10  We  10:35 am  Moon-Jupiter: 4.3° N
    10  We   6:36 pm  Neptune Conjunction
    10  We   8:02 pm  Moon-Mercury: 3.9° N
    13  Sa   5:21 am  New Moon
    18  Th   1:04 am  Moon Apogee: 405300 km
    19  Fr   1:48 pm  Moon-Mars: 2.1° N
    19  Fr  11:31 pm  Moon Ascending Node
    20  Sa   5:37 am  Vernal Equinox Yea Spring!
    20  Sa   3:15 pm  Mars-Aldebaran: 6.9° N
    21  Su  10:40 am  First Quarter
    22  Mo   4:35 am  Moon North Dec.: 25.3° N
    24  We   5:58 am  Moon-Beehive: 2.7° S
    26  Fr   2:17 am  Venus Superior Conjunction
                      Enters the evening sky
    28  Su   2:48 pm  Full Moon  (supermoon)
    30  Tu   2:12 am  Moon Perigee: 360300 km
Apr  1  Th            Venus: 2° E

All event times are given for UTC-5:00: Eastern Standard Time before the 14th or UTC-4:00 Daylight Saving Time thereafter.

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.

Note that the site is now kept up for archival purposes. Fred Espenak retired from NASA several years ago and has his own site, AstroPixels, which contain the same information: http://astropixels.com/almanac/almanac.html.

Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events

                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
March, 2021    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Mon  1| 07:19a  06:30p  11:11 | 07:34p  06:16a |      Rise 09:33p   90%|
|Tue  2| 07:18a  06:32p  11:14 | 07:35p  06:15a |      Rise 10:51p   82%|
|Wed  3| 07:16a  06:33p  11:17 | 07:36p  06:13a |      Rise 12:09a   73%|
|Thu  4| 07:14a  06:34p  11:20 | 07:38p  06:11a |      Rise 01:26a   62%|
|Fri  5| 07:12a  06:36p  11:23 | 07:39p  06:09a |L Qtr Rise 02:41a   51%|
|Sat  6| 07:11a  06:37p  11:26 | 07:40p  06:08a |      Rise 03:48a   40%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  7| 07:09a  06:38p  11:29 | 07:41p  06:06a |      Rise 04:46a   29%|
|Mon  8| 07:07a  06:40p  11:32 | 07:43p  06:04a |      Rise 05:34a   20%|
|Tue  9| 07:05a  06:41p  11:35 | 07:44p  06:02a |      Rise 06:12a   12%|
|Wed 10| 07:03a  06:42p  11:39 | 07:45p  06:00a |      Rise 06:43a    6%|
|Thu 11| 07:01a  06:44p  11:42 | 07:47p  05:59a |      Rise 07:09a    2%|
|Fri 12| 07:00a  06:45p  11:45 | 07:48p  05:57a |      Rise 07:31a    0%|
|Sat 13| 06:58a  06:46p  11:48 | 07:49p  05:55a |New   Set  07:06p    0%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
| EDT  |      Time Change      |                |                       |
|Sun 14| 07:56a  07:48p  11:51 | 08:51p  06:53a |      Set  09:09p    3%|
|Mon 15| 07:54a  07:49p  11:54 | 08:52p  06:51a |      Set  10:12p    6%|
|Tue 16| 07:52a  07:50p  11:57 | 08:53p  06:49a |      Set  11:15p   12%|
|Wed 17| 07:50a  07:51p  12:00 | 08:55p  06:47a |      Set  12:18a   18%|
|Thu 18| 07:49a  07:53p  12:04 | 08:56p  06:45a |      Set  01:21a   26%|
|Fri 19| 07:47a  07:54p  12:07 | 08:57p  06:44a |      Set  02:23a   35%|
|Sat 20| 07:45a  07:55p  12:10 | 08:59p  06:42a |      Set  03:23a   44%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 21| 07:43a  07:56p  12:13 | 09:00p  06:40a |F Qtr Set  04:18a   54%|
|Mon 22| 07:41a  07:58p  12:16 | 09:01p  06:38a |      Set  05:08a   64%|
|Tue 23| 07:39a  07:59p  12:19 | 09:03p  06:36a |      Set  05:50a   73%|
|Wed 24| 07:37a  08:00p  12:22 | 09:04p  06:34a |      Set  06:26a   82%|
|Thu 25| 07:36a  08:02p  12:25 | 09:05p  06:32a |      Set  06:57a   89%|
|Fri 26| 07:34a  08:03p  12:29 | 09:07p  06:30a |      Set  07:24a   95%|
|Sat 27| 07:32a  08:04p  12:32 | 09:08p  06:28a |      Set  07:50a   99%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 28| 07:30a  08:05p  12:35 | 09:10p  06:26a |Full  Rise 08:08p  100%|
|Mon 29| 07:28a  08:07p  12:38 | 09:11p  06:24a |      Rise 09:28p   98%|
|Tue 30| 07:26a  08:08p  12:41 | 09:12p  06:22a |      Rise 10:50p   93%|
|Wed 31| 07:24a  08:09p  12:44 | 09:14p  06:20a |      Rise 12:11a   85%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Created using my LookingUp for DOS output as text.

 



 

						

		

		

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