Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, February 18th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 6:15, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:36. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 12:52 tomorrow morning.

The great winter constellation or star group Orion the Hunter, is located in the south-southeastern sky at 8 p.m. His elongated rectangle of a torso is almost vertical. In the center of the rectangle are three stars in a line that mark his belt. As a hunter, especially one of old, he has two hunting dogs. The larger, Canis Major can be found by following the three belt stars of Orion down and to the left. There lies the brilliant star called Sirius, also known as the Dog Star. It’s in the heart of a stick figure dog low in the southeast, facing Orion, that appears to be begging. There’s a fine star cluster, called M41, at the 5 o’clock position from Sirius, easily visible in binoculars or a small telescope.

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.

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