Home > Ephemeris Program, Month preview > Ephemeris: 12/31/2024 – Previewing January’s skies

Ephemeris: 12/31/2024 – Previewing January’s skies

December 31, 2024

This is Ephemeris for New Year’s Eve, Tuesday, December 31st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:12. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 5:46 this evening.

Let’s look ahead at the month of January 2025. Thursday we will have our latest sunrise at 8:20. That time will drop to 8:02 by the 31st. Sunset times are already increasing. On the 1st at 5:13, will extend to 5:50 at month’s end, which will push the daylight hours to 9 hours 47 minutes by then. The altitude of the Sun at local noon will increase from under 23 degrees tomorrow to 28 degrees at month’s end. Tomorrow we will reach our closest distance from the Sun of the year at 91.4 million miles. Friday morning will see the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower. They will be best seen in the early morning and seem to come from near the handle of the Big Dipper, where possibly more than 60 meteors an hour might be seen.

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

January Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for January 2025
Star Chart for January 2025 (9 p.m. EST January 15, 2025). Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 PM EST in the evening and 6 AM on the 16th for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that 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), so the skies may not exactly match as seen from other locations.

January Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for January mornings of 2025
Star Chart for January mornings of 2025 (6 a.m. EST January 16, 2025). Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.

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, then
  • Follow the spike to Spica.
  • QuadR on the star charts is the radiant of the Quadrantid meteor shower which peaks on the 4th at 4:14 a.m. EST (9:14 UT).

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

      EST        
  Morning Twilight Evening Twilight Dark Night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2025-01-01 6h35m 7h11m 18h22m 19h02m 19h03m 6h35m 0.06
2025-01-02 6h35m 7h11m 18h23m 19h02m 20h21m 6h35m 0.12
2025-01-03 6h35m 7h11m 18h24m 19h03m 21h38m 6h35m 0.2
2025-01-04 6h35m 7h11m 18h25m 19h04m 22h54m 6h35m 0.3
2025-01-05 6h35m 7h11m 18h26m 19h05m – 6h35m 0.41
2025-01-06 6h35m 7h11m 18h27m 19h06m 0h10m 6h35m 0.53
2025-01-07 6h35m 7h11m 18h28m 19h07m 1h27m 6h35m 0.64
2025-01-08 6h35m 7h10m 18h29m 19h08m 2h45m 6h35m 0.74
2025-01-09 6h35m 7h10m 18h30m 19h09m 4h06m 6h35m 0.84
2025-01-10 6h35m 7h10m 18h31m 19h10m 5h26m 6h35m 0.91
2025-01-11 6h35m 7h10m 18h32m 19h11m – – 0.96
2025-01-12 6h34m 7h09m 18h33m 19h12m – – 0.99
2025-01-13 6h34m 7h09m 18h34m 19h13m – – 1
2025-01-14 6h34m 7h09m 18h35m 19h14m – – 0.98
2025-01-15 6h34m 7h08m 18h36m 19h15m 19h15m 19h28m 0.94
2025-01-16 6h33m 7h08m 18h37m 19h16m 19h16m 20h38m 0.89
2025-01-17 6h33m 7h07m 18h38m 19h17m 19h17m 21h45m 0.82
2025-01-18 6h32m 7h07m 18h39m 19h18m 19h18m 22h49m 0.74
2025-01-19 6h32m 7h06m 18h41m 19h19m 19h19m 23h52m 0.65
2025-01-20 6h31m 7h06m 18h42m 19h20m 19h20m – 0.56
2025-01-21 6h31m 7h05m 18h43m 19h21m 19h21m 0h56m 0.47
2025-01-22 6h30m 7h05m 18h44m 19h23m 19h23m 2h01m 0.37
2025-01-23 6h29m 7h04m 18h45m 19h24m 19h24m 3h08m 0.28
2025-01-24 6h29m 7h03m 18h47m 19h25m 19h25m 4h16m 0.2
2025-01-25 6h28m 7h02m 18h48m 19h26m 19h26m 5h22m 0.12
2025-01-26 6h27m 7h02m 18h49m 19h27m 19h27m 6h24m 0.06
2025-01-27 6h26m 7h01m 18h50m 19h28m 19h28m 6h26m 0.02
2025-01-28 6h26m 7h00m 18h51m 19h30m 19h30m 6h26m 0
2025-01-29 6h25m 6h59m 18h53m 19h31m 19h31m 6h25m 0.01
2025-01-30 6h24m 6h58m 18h54m 19h32m 19h32m 6h24m 0.04
2025-01-31 6h23m 6h57m 18h55m 19h33m 20h40m 6h23m 0.09

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/2018/09/27/.

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

    Date      Time    Event
Jan  1  We            Venus: 47° E
     3  Fr  10:24 AM  Moon-Venus: 1.5° N
     3  Fr  10:24 AM  Quadrantid Shower: ZHR = 120
     4  Sa   2:59 AM  Perihelion: 0.9833 AU
     4  Sa  12:18 PM  Moon-Saturn: 0.7° S
     5  Su   2:46 PM  Moon Ascending Node
     6  Mo   6:56 PM  First Quarter
     7  Tu   6:35 PM  Moon Perigee: 370200 km
     9  Th   8:01 PM  Moon-Pleiades: 0.3° S
     9  Th  10:59 PM  Venus Greatest Elongation: 47.2° E
    11  Sa  11:30 PM  Moon North Dec.: 28.5° N
    13  Mo   4:45 PM  Moon-Pollux: 2.2° N
    13  Mo   5:27 PM  Full Moon
    13  Mo  10:42 PM  Moon-Mars: 0.2° S Occultation!
    14  Tu   4:03 PM  Moon-Beehive: 2.7° S
    15  We   8:17 PM  Mars Opposition
    16  Th   9:57 AM  Moon-Regulus: 2.4° S
    18  Sa  10:53 AM  Venus-Saturn: 2.2° N
    18  Sa   8:48 PM  Moon Descending Node
    20  Mo  10:53 PM  Moon-Spica: 0.1° N
    20  Mo  11:55 PM  Moon Apogee: 404300 km
    21  Tu   3:31 PM  Last Quarter
    23  Th  12:05 PM  Mars-Pollux: 2.4° S
    24  Fr   6:34 PM  Moon-Antares: 0.3° N
    26  Su   8:27 AM  Moon South Dec.: 28.5° S
    29  We   7:36 AM  New Moon
    31  Fr   5:02 PM  Jupiter-Aldebaran: 5.2° N
    31  Fr  11:46 PM  Moon-Saturn: 1.1° S
Feb  1  Sa            Venus: 45° E

All event times are given for UTC-5 Eastern Standard Time.
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.

Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events

     LU              Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
     January, 2025    Local time zone: EST
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
     |      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
     +=======================================================================+
     |Wed  1| 08:20a  05:13p  08:53 | 06:23p  07:09a |      Set  07:02p    5%|
     |Thu  2| 08:20a  05:14p  08:54 | 06:24p  07:09a |      Set  08:20p   11%|
     |Fri  3| 08:20a  05:15p  08:55 | 06:25p  07:10a |      Set  09:37p   19%|
     |Sat  4| 08:20a  05:16p  08:56 | 06:26p  07:10a |      Set  10:54p   28%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun  5| 08:19a  05:17p  08:57 | 06:27p  07:10a |      Set  12:09a   39%|
     |Mon  6| 08:19a  05:18p  08:58 | 06:28p  07:09a |F Qtr Set  01:26a   50%|
     |Tue  7| 08:19a  05:19p  08:59 | 06:29p  07:09a |      Set  02:45a   61%|
     |Wed  8| 08:19a  05:20p  09:01 | 06:30p  07:09a |      Set  04:05a   72%|
     |Thu  9| 08:18a  05:21p  09:02 | 06:31p  07:09a |      Set  05:25a   82%|
     |Fri 10| 08:18a  05:22p  09:04 | 06:32p  07:09a |      Set  06:40a   89%|
     |Sat 11| 08:18a  05:23p  09:05 | 06:33p  07:09a |      Set  07:43a   95%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 12| 08:17a  05:25p  09:07 | 06:34p  07:08a |      Set  08:34a   99%|
     |Mon 13| 08:17a  05:26p  09:08 | 06:35p  07:08a |Full  Rise 05:00p  100%|
     |Tue 14| 08:16a  05:27p  09:10 | 06:36p  07:08a |      Rise 06:14p   99%|
     |Wed 15| 08:16a  05:28p  09:12 | 06:37p  07:07a |      Rise 07:27p   95%|
     |Thu 16| 08:15a  05:30p  09:14 | 06:38p  07:07a |      Rise 08:37p   90%|
     |Fri 17| 08:15a  05:31p  09:16 | 06:39p  07:06a |      Rise 09:44p   83%|
     |Sat 18| 08:14a  05:32p  09:18 | 06:40p  07:06a |      Rise 10:48p   76%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 19| 08:13a  05:34p  09:20 | 06:42p  07:05a |      Rise 11:52p   67%|
     |Mon 20| 08:13a  05:35p  09:22 | 06:43p  07:05a |      Rise 12:56a   58%|
     |Tue 21| 08:12a  05:36p  09:24 | 06:44p  07:04a |L Qtr Rise 02:01a   49%|
     |Wed 22| 08:11a  05:38p  09:26 | 06:45p  07:03a |      Rise 03:07a   39%|
     |Thu 23| 08:10a  05:39p  09:28 | 06:46p  07:03a |      Rise 04:15a   30%|
     |Fri 24| 08:09a  05:40p  09:31 | 06:48p  07:02a |      Rise 05:22a   22%|
     |Sat 25| 08:08a  05:42p  09:33 | 06:49p  07:01a |      Rise 06:24a   14%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 26| 08:07a  05:43p  09:35 | 06:50p  07:00a |      Rise 07:17a    8%|
     |Mon 27| 08:06a  05:44p  09:38 | 06:51p  07:00a |      Rise 08:00a    3%|
     |Tue 28| 08:05a  05:46p  09:40 | 06:52p  06:59a |      Rise 08:34a    0%|
     |Wed 29| 08:04a  05:47p  09:42 | 06:54p  06:58a |New   Set  06:00p    0%|
     |Thu 30| 08:03a  05:49p  09:45 | 06:55p  06:57a |      Set  07:20p    3%|
     |Fri 31| 08:02a  05:50p  09:47 | 06:56p  06:56a |      Set  08:39p    8%|
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     * Nautical Twilight
     ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

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