Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, April 24th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 56 minutes, setting at 8:39, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:41. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 5:29 tomorrow morning.

High in the east-southeast at 10 p.m. is a tiny and faint constellation of Coma Berenices, or Berenice’s hair. In it are lots of faint stars arrayed to look like several strands of hair. The whole group will fit in the field of a pair of binoculars, which will also show many more stars. The hank of hair was supposed to belong to Berenice, a real Queen of Egypt, of the 3rd century BCE who cut off her golden tresses and offered them to the gods for the safe return of her husband from war. Her husband did return safe, and at that same time her hair disappeared from the temple. The oracle of the temple pointed to this constellation showing that her sacrifice was enshrined in the stars.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

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