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Ephemeris: 07/14/2025 – The celestial scorpion crawls along the southern horizon

July 14, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Monday, July 14th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 15 minutes, setting at 9:26, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:11. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:42 this evening.

There’s a large constellation located low in the south at about 11 tonight. It’s Scorpius the scorpion. Its brightest star is Antares in its heart, a red giant star, that I’ve gotten calls about it as being a UFO. From Antares to the right is a star, then a vertical arc of three stars, that is its head. The Scorpion’s tail is a line of stars running down to the left of Antares, swooping to the horizon before coming back up and ending in a pair of stars that portray his poisonous stinger. There is a beautiful star cluster, seen in binoculars at that first bend in the tail that is unfortunately too low, at three degrees altitude, to appreciate from this far north. I was very impressed with it when spotting it in binoculars from the Florida Keys when I was down there in 1986 to observe Halley’s Comet. It has several names, including the Northern Jewel Box Cluster.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Scorpius animated finder with claw stars for around 11 PM in mid-July.
Scorpius animated finder for around 11 PM in mid-July. The Arabs saw a bigger scorpion with Antares in the upper part of its body, the arc of three stars near its head and its claws extended to Zubeneschamali (North Claw) and Zubenelgenubi (South Claw). The latter two stars belong to Libra the scales. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
Scorpius, the scorpion, without the atmospheric effects and the horizon of viewing it from northern Michigan, shows the Northern Jewel Box Cluster.
Scorpius, the scorpion, without the atmospheric effects and the horizon of viewing it from northern Michigan, shows the Northern Jewel Box Cluster. It’s also known as the False Comet Nebula, and looking at the larger picture the stars above and a bit to the left of it are very faint and would, to the naked eye, possibly appear fuzzy along with the cluster itself. So it may look like a comet. Also, near Antares, is a globular star cluster called M 4. Which looks fuzzy and binoculars. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP
Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Observing, Star Clusters