Home > Concepts, Ephemeris Program > Ephemeris: 01/02/2025 – Today we have the latest sunrise

Ephemeris: 01/02/2025 – Today we have the latest sunrise

January 2, 2025

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, January 2nd. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 5:14. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 8:20 this evening. | As an amateur astronomer I am fascinated by time, the so-called 4th dimension. For example, being at the right place at the right time such as to view a total solar eclipse. The universe isn’t going to wait for you if you’re off in the three dimensions of location or of the time. But today is a different story. Today is the day of the latest sunrise, which is at 8:20 AM. From today to June 15th, the day of the earliest sunrise, is on average about 165 days. That’s about 5 ½ months. We had our earliest sunset back on December 9th. That was 24 days ago so it’s got a head start from there to the latest sunset that it will need because the latest sunset will be on June 26th. So the sunrise times will decrease faster than the sunset times will increase into the June summer solstice period.

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:

Illustrated Analemma
If one took a picture of the sun at the same time each day on the same piece of film for an entire year the image you’d get looks like this funny figure 8. It’s called an analemma and it shows that the sun does not move at the same rate through the entire year. Apparent solar time, which would be displayed by a sundial, does not match or run at the steady rate of a clock. The difference between the two is seen in this figure. I’ve marked out the times of earliest and latest sunrises and sunsets and the solstice and equinoxes showing the inequality in the timing of these events. Note that the time of the sun traveling from the latest sunrise to he earliest sunrise is shorter than that from the earliest sunrise back to the latest. Created using my LookingUp app.
A photograph, a year in the making, of the analemma taken over the ruins of the temple of Apollo in Ancient Corinth, Greece by Anthony Ayiomamitis
A photograph, a year in the making, of the analemma taken over the ruins of the temple of Apollo in Ancient Corinth, Greece by Anthony Ayiomamitis. (https://perseus.gr/)

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