Home > Asterism, Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Observing > Ephemeris: 11/22/2024 – Finding Aquarius

Ephemeris: 11/22/2024 – Finding Aquarius

November 22, 2024

This is Ephemeris for Friday, November 22nd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 5:08, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:50. The Moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 12:04 tomorrow morning.

One of the constellations of the zodiac is in the southern sky at 8 in the evening, where Saturn is located this year. It’s the constellation of Aquarius, the water bearer. The image that is supposed to be depicted in the stars is that of a fellow carrying a stone jar of water. Aquarius is fairly hard to spot because it is made of faint stars. One part of him, though, is easier to spot. That is the Water Jar, an asterism or informal constellation. It is a distinctive small nearly equilateral triangle of stars with another star in the center. Aquarius is not a very good water bearer because he’s spilling the water out of his jar. The Water jar is above and to the right of Saturn this year and the water is flowing down a line of stars to the lower left.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

An animated finder chart for the constellation Aquarius
An animated finder chart for the constellation Aquarius. This year the planet Saturn is a good pointer to the constellation. In other years it can be found sandwiched between the head of Pegasus the flying horse above and the star Fomalhaut to the south. Aquarius’ stars are mostly rather faint, but the one pattern that does stand out is the asterism called the Water Jar which is circled in the animation. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
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