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Ephemeris: 01/31/2025 – Previewing February Skies

January 31, 2025 Comments off

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Friday, January 31st. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 47 minutes, setting at 5:50, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:01. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 8:39 this evening.

January was a wild and crazy month, let’s hope February is short and sweet. Well, at least it’ll be short. The daylight hours throughout the month will be getting longer. Daylight hours will increase from 9 hours and 50 minutes tomorrow to 11 hours and 8 minutes on the 28th. The sunrise time will decrease from 8:01 today to 7:21 at month’s end. The sunset times will increase from 5:51 tomorrow to 6:29 on the 28th. Along with that the altitude of the Sun at noon will increase from 28.4 degrees tomorrow to 37.6 degrees at month’s end. It will be a degree lower for folks in the Straits area because they are a degree of latitude farther north. Local noon, by the way for Interlochen and Traverse City is about 12:56 p.m. The Moon will be near Saturn tonight.

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

February Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for February 2024, (9 p.m. EST February 14, 2025). Created using my LookingUp program.
Star Chart for February 2025, (9 p.m. EST February 14, 2025). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 14th at 9 PM EST in the evening and 6 AM for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere (rotating star finder) you may have to set it to 45 minutes or one hour 45 minutes (Daylight Time) earlier than the current time.

Note the chart times of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. are for the 14th and 15th. For each week before these dates, add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after, subtract ½ hour. Planet positions on dates other than the 15th can be found in the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.

February Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for February mornings, 2025 (6 a.m. EST February 15, 2024). No naked-eye planets are visible at chart time. Created using my LookingUp program.
Star Chart for February mornings, 2025 (6 a.m. EST February 15, 2025). No naked-eye planets are visible at chart time. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

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.
  • Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
  • Extend like a spike to Spica,
  • The Summer Triangle is in red.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

      EST        
  Morning Twilight Evening Twilight Dark Night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2025-02-01 6h22m 6h56m 19h00m 19h35m 21h58m 6h22m 0.17
2025-02-02 6h21m 6h55m 19h02m 19h36m 23h16m 6h21m 0.27
2025-02-03 6h20m 6h54m 19h03m 19h37m – 6h20m 0.37
2025-02-04 6h19m 6h53m 19h04m 19h38m 0h35m 6h19m 0.49
2025-02-05 6h18m 6h52m 19h05m 19h39m 1h55m 6h18m 0.6
2025-02-06 6h17m 6h51m 19h07m 19h41m 3h15m 6h17m 0.71
2025-02-07 6h16m 6h49m 19h08m 19h42m 4h30m 6h16m 0.8
2025-02-08 6h14m 6h48m 19h09m 19h43m 5h36m 6h14m 0.88
2025-02-09 6h13m 6h47m 19h11m 19h44m – – 0.94
2025-02-10 6h12m 6h46m 19h12m 19h46m – – 0.98
2025-02-11 6h11m 6h44m 19h13m 19h47m – – 1
2025-02-12 6h09m 6h43m 19h14m 19h48m – – 1
2025-02-13 6h08m 6h42m 19h16m 19h50m – – 0.97
2025-02-14 6h07m 6h40m 19h17m 19h51m 19h51m 20h35m 0.93
2025-02-15 6h05m 6h39m 19h18m 19h52m 19h52m 21h39m 0.88
2025-02-16 6h04m 6h38m 19h20m 19h53m 19h53m 22h43m 0.81
2025-02-17 6h02m 6h36m 19h21m 19h55m 19h55m 23h47m 0.73
2025-02-18 6h01m 6h35m 19h22m 19h56m 19h56m – 0.64
2025-02-19 6h00m 6h33m 19h23m 19h57m 19h57m 0h53m 0.55
2025-02-20 5h58m 6h32m 19h25m 19h58m 19h58m 2h00m 0.46
2025-02-21 5h56m 6h30m 19h26m 20h00m 20h00m 3h07m 0.36
2025-02-22 5h55m 6h29m 19h27m 20h01m 20h01m 4h10m 0.26
2025-02-23 5h53m 6h27m 19h29m 20h02m 20h02m 5h06m 0.18
2025-02-24 5h52m 6h25m 19h30m 20h04m 20h04m 5h52m 0.1
2025-02-25 5h50m 6h24m 19h31m 20h05m 20h05m 5h50m 0.04
2025-02-26 5h48m 6h22m 19h33m 20h06m 20h06m 5h48m 0.01
2025-02-27 5h47m 6h21m 19h34m 20h08m 20h08m 5h47m 0
2025-02-28 5h45m 6h19m 19h35m 20h09m 20h09m 5h45m 0.02

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/2019/09/27/

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

   Date       Time    Event     
Feb  1  Sa            Venus: 45° E
     1  Sa   3:27 PM  Moon-Venus: 2.4° N
     1  Sa   5:06 PM  Moon Ascending Node
     1  Sa   9:43 PM  Moon Perigee: 367500 km
     5  We   3:02 AM  First Quarter
     6  Th   1:43 AM  Moon-Pleiades: 0.5° S
     8  Sa   5:40 AM  Moon North Dec.: 28.6° N
     9  Su   6:57 AM  Mercury Superior Conj.
     9  Su   2:36 PM  Moon-Mars: 0.8° S
    10  Mo  12:19 AM  Moon-Pollux: 2.2° N
    11  Tu  12:03 AM  Moon-Beehive: 2.7° S
    12  We   8:53 AM  Full Moon
    12  We   6:21 PM  Moon-Regulus: 2.3° S
    15  Sa   1:53 AM  Moon Descending Node
    17  Mo   7:01 AM  Moon-Spica: 0.3° N
    17  Mo   8:11 PM  Moon Apogee: 404900 km
    20  Th  12:32 PM  Last Quarter
    21  Fr   3:21 AM  Moon-Antares: 0.5° N
    22  Sa   5:32 PM  Moon South Dec.: 28.7° S
    27  Th   7:45 PM  New Moon
Mar  1  Sa            Venus: 30.4° 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
February, 2025    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sat  1| 08:01a  05:51p  09:50 | 06:58p  06:55a |      Set  09:57p   15%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  2| 08:00a  05:53p  09:53 | 06:59p  06:54a |      Set  11:15p   24%|
|Mon  3| 07:59a  05:54p  09:55 | 07:00p  06:53a |      Set  12:35a   35%|
|Tue  4| 07:57a  05:56p  09:58 | 07:01p  06:52a |      Set  01:55a   46%|
|Wed  5| 07:56a  05:57p  10:01 | 07:03p  06:51a |F Qtr Set  03:14a   57%|
|Thu  6| 07:55a  05:59p  10:03 | 07:04p  06:50a |      Set  04:30a   68%|
|Fri  7| 07:54a  06:00p  10:06 | 07:05p  06:48a |      Set  05:36a   78%|
|Sat  8| 07:52a  06:01p  10:09 | 07:06p  06:47a |      Set  06:29a   86%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  9| 07:51a  06:03p  10:12 | 07:08p  06:46a |      Set  07:10a   93%|
|Mon 10| 07:49a  06:04p  10:14 | 07:09p  06:45a |      Set  07:42a   97%|
|Tue 11| 07:48a  06:06p  10:17 | 07:10p  06:43a |      Set  08:06a  100%|
|Wed 12| 07:47a  06:07p  10:20 | 07:12p  06:42a |Full  Rise 06:21p  100%|
|Thu 13| 07:45a  06:08p  10:23 | 07:13p  06:41a |      Rise 07:29p   98%|
|Fri 14| 07:44a  06:10p  10:26 | 07:14p  06:39a |      Rise 08:34p   94%|
|Sat 15| 07:42a  06:11p  10:29 | 07:16p  06:38a |      Rise 09:38p   89%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 16| 07:41a  06:13p  10:32 | 07:17p  06:37a |      Rise 10:42p   82%|
|Mon 17| 07:39a  06:14p  10:35 | 07:18p  06:35a |      Rise 11:47p   75%|
|Tue 18| 07:38a  06:15p  10:37 | 07:19p  06:34a |      Rise 12:52a   66%|
|Wed 19| 07:36a  06:17p  10:40 | 07:21p  06:32a |      Rise 01:59a   57%|
|Thu 20| 07:34a  06:18p  10:43 | 07:22p  06:31a |L Qtr Rise 03:06a   47%|
|Fri 21| 07:33a  06:20p  10:46 | 07:23p  06:29a |      Rise 04:09a   38%|
|Sat 22| 07:31a  06:21p  10:49 | 07:25p  06:28a |      Rise 05:06a   28%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 23| 07:29a  06:22p  10:52 | 07:26p  06:26a |      Rise 05:53a   19%|
|Mon 24| 07:28a  06:24p  10:55 | 07:27p  06:24a |      Rise 06:30a   12%|
|Tue 25| 07:26a  06:25p  10:59 | 07:28p  06:23a |      Rise 07:00a    6%|
|Wed 26| 07:24a  06:26p  11:02 | 07:30p  06:21a |      Rise 07:25a    2%|
|Thu 27| 07:23a  06:28p  11:05 | 07:31p  06:20a |New   Set  06:14p    0%|
|Fri 28| 07:21a  06:29p  11:08 | 07:32p  06:18a |      Set  07:34p    1%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise

Created using my LookingUp for MS-DOS app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview, Observing Tags:

Ephemeris: 01/30/2025 – What’s up with Betelgeuse

January 30, 2025 Comments off

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, January 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 5:49, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:02. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 7:20 this evening.

The constellation Orion is in the southeast at 8 PM, so what’s up with Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is the bright reddish upper leftmost star of the torso of Orion the hunter, it’s in his shoulder. Betelgeuse has been acting up lately. In 2019 and 2020 Betelgeuse had dimmed significantly. Astronomers didn’t know why at the time, but found out later that it ejected a large cloud of gas and dust which blocked the light from the star. Since then Betelgeuse has increased its brightness significantly, so it’s much brighter than normal. Again, we don’t exactly know why. Some have speculated that Betelgeuse is will soon go supernova. We’ve known that for a while, but soon is measured in hundreds of thousands of years. So astronomers are keeping an eye on Betelgeuse to see what happens next.

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

The constellation Orion the hunter in its orientation at 8:00 PM tonight, January 29th with lines outlining his body.
The constellation Orion the hunter in its orientation at 8:00 PM tonight, January 30th with lines outlining his body. Its two brightest stars Betelgeuse and Rigel labeled. Both Betelgeuse and Rigel are very massive stars with a short lifetime. By short, I mean millions of years not billions like the Sun. Betelgeuse is much farther along in its life cycle than Rigel which is 30% farther away. Created using Stellarium.
Betelgeuse before and after dimming
This comparison image shows the star Betelgeuse before and after its unprecedented dimming. The observations, taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in January and December 2019, show how much the star has faded and how its apparent shape has changed. Credit: ESO/M. Montargès et al.
Betelgeuse's dust plume
An image of the star Betelgeuse taken in infrared shows it’s surrounded by a vast cloud of dust that erupted from the surface (the bright star itself is masked out, though an image of it has been superposed there for scale — it’s about the size of the orbit of Jupiter, over a billion km wide). Credit: ESO/P. Kervella/M. Montargès et al., Acknowledgement: Eric Pantin via Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy blog on syfy.com, which is no longer active.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Observing, Stars Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 01/29/2025 – Our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

January 29, 2025 Comments off

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 5:47, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:03. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. At 8 PM this evening four of the five naked eye planets will be out. Starting from the West we have Venus the brightest of all low in the west southwest. Almost directly below it will be the much dimmer Saturn. Jupiter, the second-brightest planet will be high in the south-southeast. Below it is the letter V shape of stars that is the head of Taurus the bull. Farther below is the spectacular constellation of Orion the hunter. The 4th planet out is Mars, the third-brightest planet now, with its distinctive reddish hue, near the star Pollux in Gemini, and just about due east. The fifth naked eye planet, Mercury, is too close to the Sun in the morning to be visible.

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 8 PM January 29, 2025 planet panorama
An 8 PM January 29, 2025 planet panorama. Venus and Saturn are in the west-southwest, and Jupiter is in the south-southeast. Mars is in the east. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification
Telescopic Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. All the planets are shown for tonight, 8 PM, January 29, 2025. Apparent diameters: Saturn 16.0″, its rings 37.3″, 3.0 degrees from edge on andclosing; Venus 30.7″, 40.0% illuminated; Jupiter 43.8″; Mars, 13.9″. Planetary surface detail is more subtle than shown here. Europa will disappear behind Jupiter at 9:44 PM EST (UT-5), and reappear from the planet’s shadow at 2:39 AM. The ” means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on January 29, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 30th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
Low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, January 29 and 30, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 01/28/2025 – Tranquility amongst chaos

January 28, 2025 1 comment

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 40 minutes, setting at 5:46, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:04. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 8:34 tomorrow morning.

We’ve come off a tumultuous week, and while this program deals with topics generally in the heavens. Events on the Earth more than occasionally intrude. I often remind folks that the Earth is a planet too; an astronomical object in someone else’s sky. I consider astronomy not to be just about the heavens but about the entire universe of which the Earth is a part. The heavens above the Earth to the naked eye at least seems to be a tranquil place. That is because we cannot, with our human senses, pick up the energies of the great collisions and the other cataclysms in the universe, due to distance, our protective atmosphere and our limited senses. So going out under the stars for a while is a way to get away from it all: far, far away.

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

Silhouette of photographer with camera and Milky Way blackground
Silhouette of photographer with camera and Milky Way blackground. Designed by Freepik. https://www.freepik.com

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Observing, Stars Tags:

Ephemeris: 01/27/2025 – Gemini the twins with Mars this year

January 27, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Monday, January 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 38 minutes, setting at 5:44, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:05. The Moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 8:00 tomorrow morning.

Another famous winter constellation is Gemini. The constellation of Gemini the Twins is visible halfway to the zenith in the east, at the top and left of Orion the hunter, at 9 pm. The namesake stars of the two lads, are the two bright stars at the left end of Gemini, and are high and are due east. Castor is on top, while Pollux is below. From them come two lines of stars that outline the two, extending horizontally toward Orion. Mars is passing in front of the stars of Gemini during the first quarter of this year, reaching the western end of its retrograde loop and doubling back to the east. In Greek mythology the Gemini twins were half brothers, Castor was fathered by a mere mortal, while Pollux was fathered by Zeus, but were born together as twins. When Castor was killed during the quest for the Golden Fleece, Pollux pleaded with Zeus to let him die also, so Zeus placed them together in the sky.

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

The image of Gemini in four frames.
The image of Gemini in four frames. The first are the stars of the constellation Gemini with the planet Mars as it would be seen tonight, January 27th 2025. The second are the lines of the constellation as I see it, with the star names of Castor and Pollux and another star of the constellation. The third is Stellarium’s image of the twins against the stars. The fourth frame is the track of Mars against the stars of Gemini over the period of the three months January through March 2025 shown at 10 day intervals. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Mythology, Observing Tags: , , ,

Ephemeris: 01/24/2025 – 100th anniversary of the last total solar eclipse visible in Northern Michigan

January 24, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Friday, January 24th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 5:40, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:08. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 5:22 tomorrow morning.

100 years ago this morning, Saturday, January 24th, 1925 the partial phase of a solar eclipse was already in progress as the Sun rose at 8:12 AM in the Grand Traverse region. I found no record of the weather that day, but being January, I don’t expect it was clear. So after sunrise instead of the daylight getting brighter as the Sun rose, it got darker. This was the last time Northern Michigan experienced a total solar eclipse. Totality was around 9:03 AM. After that the daylight gradually became brighter with the eclipse ending at 10:15 AM. If it was clear that morning the sight would have been spectacular with the eclipsed Sun’s corona shining low in the southeastern sky, off to the right were a group of three planets: Venus, Mercury and Jupiter in a tight line.

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.

Addenda

What the sky around the totally eclipsed Sun of January 24, 1925 may have looked like from Traverse City, if it was clear. (Fat chance, it was January and the Sun was only 7° above the horizon. It’s pretty cloudy around here in January). Mid eclipse occurred at 9:03 am. The three planets to the right of the Sun are: Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter. It was created using Stellarium.

My article in this January’s Stellar Sentinel, newsletter of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society

Last year’s total solar eclipse was fantastic. Those of us in Northern Michigan had to travel to neighboring states or even further to experience it. When was the last time that someone in Northern Michigan didn’t have to leave home to see a total solar eclipse?

That was 100 years ago this January. On the morning of Saturday, January 24th, 1925 the partial phase of the eclipse was already in progress as the Sun rose at 8:12 AM. I found no record of the weather that day, but being January, I don’t expect that it was clear. So after sunrise instead of the daylight getting brighter as the Sun rose, it got darker. Totality began at 9:02 AM, midi-eclipse was at 9:03, and totality ended at 9:04. After that the daylight gradually became brighter with the eclipse ending at 10:15 AM. And things got back to normal. If it were clear that day, it would have been a spectacular sight with the corona shining brightly around the blacked out Sun only 7° above the southeastern horizon. A little off to the right would be 3 planets: Venus, Mercury and Jupiter within 4° of each other. That scene is reproduced in the image above, created using Stellarium.

The eclipse made especially big news because the path of totality clipped New York City. In fact the northern half of Central Park got to experience totality while the southern part did not.

Most of the then 48 states of the United States got to see at least part of the eclipse, although the path of totality started in northern Minnesota, crossed northern Wisconsin, western UP, and northern lower Michigan. It went across southern Ontario and across New York State, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, then into the Atlantic Ocean. The path of totality ended north of Scotland. Its path of totality crossed the path of last April’s total eclipse at Niagara Falls.

As I was preparing for this article I got to thinking that I saw the total solar eclipse in Bottineau, North Dakota on February 26, 1979. The 1925 eclipse was on January 24th. A one-month difference. Subtracting 1925 from 1979 is a difference of 54 years. I had seen this eclipse before. Eclipses nearly the same character reoccur in a period of 18 years 10 or 11 1/3rd days. The period is called a saros which was discovered by the Babylonians a long time ago. The third of a day is a kicker. Each eclipse of the saros series occurs 120° in longitude west of the previous one so in three saros periods you get 360°, a whole circle, back to the same longitude again. The Greeks had a word for it, exeligmos, meaning  ’turning of the wheel’.

So, when is our next chance for a stay-at-home total solar eclipse? On average any particular place on the Earth can see a total solar eclipse about once in 375 years. Traverse City will see its next total solar eclipse on October 26, 2144. That’s cheating on the average, with only 219 years, and only 120 years away If you can’t wait that long, there is a total eclipse in the UP in 2106. There is a much sooner annular eclipse visible from Northern Michigan on June 11, 2048. It’s an exeligmos from the annular eclipse that clipped the southeast corner of Michigan on May 10, 1994, which I viewed from Genoa, Ohio.

We will have a total lunar eclipse this year. Its partial phase begins just after midnight March 14th. Next year we will have another total lunar eclipse in March and a little nibble of a solar eclipse in August.

Categories: Astronomical History, Ephemeris Program Tags:

Ephemeris: 01/23/2025 – Conflict in the heavens

January 23, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, January 23rd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 5:39, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:09. The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 4:15 tomorrow morning.

There are several instances in the Greek heavens where constellations appear to interact with one another. This is true with Orion the hunter and Taurus the bull. Taurus, whose face is the letter V of stars, near Jupiter this year. The orangish star Aldebaran as his angry bloodshot eye is charging down on Orion, who has raised a lion skin shield on one arm and an upraised club in the other, ready to strike. They have been frozen in this pose for millennia. Stars below and right of the letter V of the Bull’s face suggest the front part of his body and his front legs charging at Orion. Orion also has two hunting dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor. Canis Major with its dazzling star Sirius will rise around 6:21 on a line extending down from Orion’s belt.

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

Looking southeast at 8 PM in late January 2025, a conflict frozen in time for millennia.
Looking southeast at 8 PM in late January 2025, a conflict frozen in time for millennia. Taurus the bull, with those wicked horns, is charging Orion the hunter. His lion skin shield is upraised, and his club ready to strike. This year Jupiter intrudes on the tableau. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.

Perhaps Jupiter is not intruding, because the Roman god Jupiter is the Greek god Zeus, who turned himself into a bull to carry off the maiden Europa. And Europa is with him still as Jupiter’s moon, and target of NASA’s recently launched Europa Clipper spacecraft.

Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Mythology, Observing Tags: , , ,

Ephemeris: 01/22/2025 – Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

January 22, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 22nd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 5:38, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:10. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 3:07 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. At 8 PM this evening four of the five naked eye planets will be out. Starting from the West we have Venus the brightest of all low in the west southwest. Directly below it will be the much dimmer Saturn. Jupiter, the second-brightest planet will be high in the southeast. Below and right of it is the letter V shape of stars that is the head of Taurus the bull. Farther below is the spectacular constellation of Orion the hunter. The 4th planet out is Mars, the third brightest planet now, with its distinctive reddish hue, near the star Pollux in Gemini. The fifth naked eye planet, Mercury, is too close to the Sun in the morning to be visible.

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 8 PM January 22, 2025, planet panorama.
An 8 PM January 22, 2025 planet panorama. Venus and Saturn are in the west-southwest, and Jupiter is in the southeast. Mars is in the east. The orange line is the ecliptic, the path of the Sun in the sky, and near which all the planets are seen. Also shown are the zodiacal constellations. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon as it might appear through a small telescope tomorrow morning, January 23, 2025
The Moon as it might appear through a small telescope tomorrow morning, January 23, 2025. Selected features are labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice draw, and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification
Telescopic Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. All the planets are shown for tonight, 8 PM, January 22, 2025. Apparent diameters: Saturn 16.1″, its rings 37.5″, 3.3 degrees from edge on (closing); Venus 28.4″, 43.8% illuminated; Jupiter 44.6″; Mars, 14.3″. Planetary surface detail is more subtle than shown here. Jupiter’s moon Europa is behind the planet and will reappear on the east or trailing side of the planet around midnight EST (5:00 UT). The ” means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on January 22, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 23rd. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, January 22 and 23, 2025
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, January 22 and 23, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing, Planets Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 01/21/2025 – How to find the Great Orion Nebula

January 21, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 21st. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 5:36, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:11. The Moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 2:01 tomorrow morning.

The constellation Orion the hunter is in the southeast at 8 PM. Its rectangle of four stars lean to the left and frame his belt of three stars in a straight line in the center of the rectangle. Below the belt is what appear to the unaided eye as three more stars arranged in a shorter straight line, his sword. Binoculars aimed at the middle stars of the sword will find a glowing haze around those stars. That is the Great Orion Nebula, also known as Messier 42 or M 42. It is the birthplace of stars, illuminated by a clutch of four hot young stars. Besides stars and protostars being born in the nebula, there are also many double planets not belonging to stars discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope. The planets are only detectable in the infrared, Webb’s specialty.

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 GIF for finding the Great Orion nebula, M 42
An animated GIF for finding the Great Orion nebula, M 42. Orion is oriented as it would appear in the southeast at 8:00 PM in late January. The nebula appears as a glow around what looks, to the naked eye, the center star of Orion’s sword. The glow of the nebula may be visible to the naked eye and in binoculars. But a low power telescope is the best way to see it. Created using stellarium, LibreOffice draw, and GIMP.
The stars and nebulae in Orion's Sword are photographed here in one of GTAS' members Dan Dall'Olmo's earlier photographs of the Great Orion Nebula
The stars and nebulae in Orion’s Sword are photographed here in one of GTAS’ members Dan Dall’Olmo’s earlier photographs of the Great Orion Nebula. The three stars of the sword seen by the naked eye are actually multiple stars rather than the single stars as in Orion’s Belt. In telescopes only the brightest part of the nebula shows up to the to the eye. However, the lower the power the brighter the nebula, and the more is visible. One of the cool things that is visible in a telescope is that blue streamer coming down on the left side of the nebula. It is about 1,344 light years away.

The blog’s archive has many other posts about the Great Orion Nebula and other nebulae in Orion.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Nebula, Observing Tags: , , ,

Ephemeris: 01/20/2025 – The planets augment the Winter Hexagon

January 20, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 5:35, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:12. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 12:56 tomorrow morning.

The winter circle or more properly hexagon, seen in the winter sky this evening, has the addition of two planets, and they’re in the proper location so that they don’t spoil the hexagon. We start at the top with the star Capella high in the east. We move clockwise downward to Jupiter and below it the star Aldebaran. We drop lower to Orion’s knee and the star Rigel, then down to Sirius, low in the southeast, the brightest nighttime star, but doesn’t hold a candle to Jupiter. Then we go above left to Procyon and upwards and left to Mars, which is near Pollux, and finally back up to Capella. That’s that is our winter hexagon right now, so take it in while you can, before Jupiter and Mars move off and mess it up.

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

The Winter Hexagon, right now, with Jupiter replacing Aldebaran and Mars replacing Pollux
The Winter Hexagon, for tonight at 8 PM, January 20, 2025, with Jupiter replacing Aldebaran and Mars replacing Pollux, but still keeping the basic shape of the hexagon. This will soon change as Jupiter and especially Mars eventually begin to move eastward. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.

As for events happening on Earth: Resist!

Categories: Asterism, Ephemeris Program, Observing, Planets, Stars Tags: , , , , , , , ,