Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Ephemeris for Friday, December 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 8 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 5:09, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:19. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 6:32 tomorrow morning.

It may seem unfair that the greatest mythological hero Hercules gets a little constellation of dim stars on the border between the spring and summer constellations, while Orion, a virtual nobody, a hard luck hero gets the splashiest constellation in the sky. Orion’s claim to fame or infamy is how he died. And the Greeks had two completely different stories on how that happened. First, that he was killed by a sting of a giant scorpion represented by the constellation Scorpius, and second that he was killed by an arrow shot by the goddess he loved, the arrow being deflected by her brother who didn’t want her to marry a mere mortal.

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