06/01/2023 – Ephemeris – Previewing June Skies
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, June 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 20 minutes, setting at 9:21, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:59. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 4:43 tomorrow morning.
Let’s begin this program’s 49th trip around the Sun by previewing the skies of June. There will be a lot of Sun in June and very little night. The daylight hours will increase a bit from 15 hours and 20 minutes today to 15 hours and 34 minutes on the 21st, retreating back to 15 hours 31 minutes at month’s end. At this time of the year the sunset times for Ludington, Interlochen, Petoskey and Mackinaw City are very nearly the same. However, the sunrise times are at their most divergent. With Ludington’s sunrise being 14 minutes later than Mackinaw City’s. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon around 1:43 p.m. will hover around 68 to 69 degrees. Summer will start on the 21st at 10:58 a.m. Venus will look great in our skies and in telescopes this month.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
June Evening Star Chart

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT in the evening and 4 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Interlochen/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 of 11 p.m. and 4 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, or 28 minutes. 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 for weekly positions.
June Morning Star Chart

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,
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2023-06-01 | 3h44m | 4h43m | 22h46m | 23h45m | – | – | 0.95 |
| 2023-06-02 | 3h43m | 4h42m | 22h48m | 23h47m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2023-06-03 | 3h41m | 4h41m | 22h49m | 23h48m | – | – | 1.00 |
| 2023-06-04 | 3h40m | 4h40m | 22h50m | 23h50m | – | – | 0.98 |
| 2023-06-05 | 3h39m | 4h40m | 22h51m | 23h51m | – | – | 0.94 |
| 2023-06-06 | 3h38m | 4h39m | 22h52m | 23h53m | 23h53m | – | 0.87 |
| 2023-06-07 | 3h37m | 4h38m | 22h53m | 23h54m | 23h54m | 0h39m | 0.79 |
| 2023-06-08 | 3h36m | 4h38m | 22h53m | 23h55m | 23h55m | 1h18m | 0.68 |
| 2023-06-09 | 3h35m | 4h38m | 22h54m | 23h56m | 23h56m | 1h49m | 0.57 |
| 2023-06-10 | 3h35m | 4h37m | 22h55m | 23h58m | 23h58m | 2h13m | 0.46 |
| 2023-06-11 | 3h34m | 4h37m | 22h56m | 23h59m | 23h59m | 2h34m | 0.35 |
| 2023-06-12 | 3h33m | 4h36m | 22h57m | 0h00m | 0h00m | 2h54m | 0.25 |
| 2023-06-13 | 3h33m | 4h36m | 22h57m | 0h01m | 0h01m | 3h13m | 0.16 |
| 2023-06-14 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 22h58m | 0h01m | 0h01m | 3h32m | 0.09 |
| 2023-06-15 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 22h58m | 0h02m | 0h02m | 3h32m | 0.04 |
| 2023-06-16 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 22h59m | 0h03m | 0h03m | 3h32m | 0.01 |
| 2023-06-17 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 22h59m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 3h32m | 0.00 |
| 2023-06-18 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 23h00m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 3h32m | 0.01 |
| 2023-06-19 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 23h00m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 3h32m | 0.04 |
| 2023-06-20 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 23h00m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h32m | 0.08 |
| 2023-06-21 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h32m | 0.15 |
| 2023-06-22 | 3h32m | 4h37m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h28m | 3h32m | 0.22 |
| 2023-06-23 | 3h32m | 4h37m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h51m | 3h32m | 0.30 |
| 2023-06-24 | 3h33m | 4h37m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 1h11m | 3h33m | 0.39 |
| 2023-06-25 | 3h33m | 4h38m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 1h29m | 3h33m | 0.49 |
| 2023-06-26 | 3h34m | 4h38m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 1h46m | 3h34m | 0.59 |
| 2023-06-27 | 3h35m | 4h39m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 2h03m | 3h35m | 0.68 |
| 2023-06-28 | 3h35m | 4h39m | 23h01m | 0h04m | 2h22m | 3h35m | 0.78 |
| 2023-06-29 | 3h36m | 4h40m | 23h01m | 0h04m | 2h43m | 3h36m | 0.86 |
| 2023-06-30 | 3h37m | 4h40m | 23h00m | 0h03m | 3h10m | 3h37m | 0.93 |
The twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), with some corrections.
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
Jun 1 Th Venus: 45.4° E
1 Th 2:22 am Moon Descending Node
1 Th 11:30 pm Mars-Beehive: 0.1° S
3 Sa 5:19 pm Moon-Antares: 1.6° S
3 Sa 11:42 pm Full Strawberry Moon
4 Su 6:59 am Venus Elongation: 45.4° E
5 Mo 12:21 pm Moon South Dec.: 27.9° S
6 Tu 7:07 pm Moon Perigee: 364,900 km
9 Fr 4:19 pm Moon-Saturn: 3° N
10 Sa 3:31 pm Last Quarter
11 Su 1:50 pm Mercury-Pleiades: 6.2° S
13 Tu 7:05 am Venus-Beehive: 0.5° N
13 Tu 8:05 pm Moon Ascending Node
14 We 2:33 am Moon-Jupiter: 1.6° S
15 Th 8:47 pm Moon-Pleiades: 2° N
16 Fr 4:18 pm Mercury-Aldebaran: 4.3° N
18 Su 12:37 am New Moon
18 Su 5:07 pm Moon North Dec.: 27.8° N
20 Tu 5:10 am Moon-Pollux: 1.9° N
21 We 6:38 am Moon-Beehive: 4° S
21 We 10:58 am Summer Solstice
21 We 8:47 pm Moon-Venus: 4.1° S
22 Th 6:09 am Moon-Mars: 4.2° S
22 Th 2:31 pm Moon Apogee: 405,400 km
26 Mo 3:50 am First Quarter
28 We 8:22 am Moon Descending Node
Jul 1 Sa Venus: 41.7° E
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC June, 2023 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Thu 1| 06:00a 09:21p 15:20 | 10:44p 04:37a | Set 04:43a 94%| |Fri 2| 05:59a 09:22p 15:22 | 10:45p 04:36a | Set 05:14a 98%| |Sat 3| 05:59a 09:22p 15:23 | 10:46p 04:35a |Full Rise 09:27p 100%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 4| 05:59a 09:23p 15:24 | 10:47p 04:35a | Rise 10:42p 99%| |Mon 5| 05:58a 09:24p 15:25 | 10:48p 04:34a | Rise 11:47p 95%| |Tue 6| 05:58a 09:25p 15:26 | 10:49p 04:33a | Rise 12:39a 89%| |Wed 7| 05:57a 09:25p 15:27 | 10:50p 04:33a | Rise 01:18a 80%| |Thu 8| 05:57a 09:26p 15:28 | 10:51p 04:32a | Rise 01:48a 70%| |Fri 9| 05:57a 09:27p 15:29 | 10:52p 04:32a | Rise 02:13a 59%| |Sat 10| 05:57a 09:27p 15:30 | 10:53p 04:31a |L Qtr Rise 02:34a 48%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 11| 05:56a 09:28p 15:31 | 10:53p 04:31a | Rise 02:53a 37%| |Mon 12| 05:56a 09:28p 15:31 | 10:54p 04:31a | Rise 03:13a 27%| |Tue 13| 05:56a 09:29p 15:32 | 10:55p 04:30a | Rise 03:34a 18%| |Wed 14| 05:56a 09:29p 15:33 | 10:55p 04:30a | Rise 03:59a 10%| |Thu 15| 05:56a 09:30p 15:33 | 10:56p 04:30a | Rise 04:28a 5%| |Fri 16| 05:56a 09:30p 15:33 | 10:56p 04:30a | Rise 05:04a 2%| |Sat 17| 05:56a 09:30p 15:34 | 10:57p 04:30a | Rise 05:49a 0%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 18| 05:56a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:57p 04:30a |New Set 10:36p 1%| |Mon 19| 05:56a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:57p 04:30a | Set 11:22p 3%| |Tue 20| 05:56a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:30a | Set 11:58p 8%| |Wed 21| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:30a | Set 12:27a 13%| |Thu 22| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Set 12:51a 20%| |Fri 23| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Set 01:11a 28%| |Sat 24| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Set 01:29a 37%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 25| 05:58a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:32a | Set 01:45a 47%| |Mon 26| 05:58a 09:32p 15:33 | 10:58p 04:32a |F Qtr Set 02:02a 57%| |Tue 27| 05:59a 09:32p 15:33 | 10:58p 04:33a | Set 02:21a 66%| |Wed 28| 05:59a 09:32p 15:32 | 10:58p 04:33a | Set 02:43a 76%| |Thu 29| 05:59a 09:32p 15:32 | 10:58p 04:34a | Set 03:10a 84%| |Fri 30| 06:00a 09:32p 15:31 | 10:57p 04:34a | Set 03:45a 92%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.