Home > Asterism, Astronomical History, Ephemeris Program > Ephemeris: 02/17/2025 – Follow the Drinking Gourd

Ephemeris: 02/17/2025 – Follow the Drinking Gourd

February 17, 2025

This is Ephemeris for President’s Day, Monday, February 17th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 35 minutes, setting at 6:14, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:38. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:47 this evening.

In the decades before the Civil War, runaway slaves would travel, often at night, northward from the slave states in the south to the northern free states and Canada over the metaphorical Underground Railroad following the Drinking Gourd, the Big Dipper as their compass. For millennia, the North Pole of the sky had been passing near the handle of the Big Dipper or Great Bear’s tail and now up to the star Polaris in the Little Dipper. As an amateur astronomer, who loves the dark, starlit skies, I’ve noticed that everyone is the same color in the dark! This year the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will, once again, team with the Sleeping Bear Dunes for more Sun and star parties.

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

Runaway slaves following the Drinking Gourd
“Follow the Drinking Gourd,” a show at the Virginia Living Museum’s Abbit Planetarium based on Jeanette Winter’s children’s book of the same name, tells the story of a slave family who used the stars to make their way north. Via Daily Press, Newport News, VA.
Precession circle
The path of the north pole of the sky (celestial sphere) over time. The celestial north pole is still approaching Polaris. In the past the Big Dipper was closer to the north pole of the sky than it is now. Polaris will be it closest to the north pole around the year 2110. Source: taichifuture.com/cosmology.html.

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