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Ephemeris: 12/18/2023 – The Moon tonight

December 18, 2023 Comments off

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Monday, December 18th. Today the Sun will be up for 8 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:03, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:15. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:50 this evening.

Tonight’s Moon is just about exactly one day before first quarter it’s a six-day-old Moon. Each quarter of the revolution of the moon is just about one week. A lunar month comes out to 29 1/2 days which is a little bit more than 28 days which should be four weeks. That’s pretty close. The illuminated part of the moon that we’re looking at first quarter I consider the most interesting half of the Moon with a good mixture of lowlands which are the seas which are the dark grayer parts of the Moon and the highlands which are very roughly cratered, and are actually higher than the lowlands, or the seas. So if you could put water on the Moon without evaporating it, this is where the water would be. Early telescopic astronomers did think that’s where the water was. Of course the Moon has no atmosphere and the water would just evaporate.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The moon as it might appear in binoculars or a small telescope tonight at 8 pm, December 18, 2024. Selected features are named. Two areas of the Lunar Highlands are marked in the south and in the north. The lowlands are the seas, some of which are labeled with the word Mare. Mare is two syllables: Mar-e, Latin of course. Julius Caesar made it as a crater name because of his Julian calendar reform. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Observing, The Moon Tags: ,