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Ephemeris: 11/28/2025 – What will AI’s effect be on the future of society?
This is Ephemeris for Native American Heritage Day, Friday, November 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 5:04, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:57. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 1:12 tomorrow morning.
Let’s take one more look at AI this week. There is a real fear that artificial intelligence, AI, is displacing certain clerical jobs, and computer coding jobs. The latter is something I used to do. But I’m safe now, having retired 12 years ago. I have coded just about all the code I’ve ever needed to code. As AI takes more and more jobs, who’s gonna be able to afford to buy all the stuff the AI bots make? I’ve heard of some thoughts of a universal guaranteed income. How is that going to be funded? The rich, lower my taxes crowd, won’t go for that. Most people’s identity is defined by their job, what they do in their career. What could possibly replace that for most people?
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.
Ephemeris: 11/27/2025 – AIs, apparent knowledge without wisdom
This is Ephemeris for Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 9 minutes, setting at 5:05, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:56. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at midnight.
As the constellation Orion rises in the evening, the Native Americans around here would say the Winter Maker is rising, we are waiting for the glory of the winter constellations to appear and the bright Moon to disappear from the evening skies. I thought I’d talk about another topic this week. I am interested in, but really don’t know the depth of detail about: AI, artificial intelligence or what I’d rather call machine intelligence. It seems to me that there are a lot of folks being hooked on talking to these AI models such as ChatGPT and others as somebody or something that’s sympathetic to them. AIs are what you might call book smart or really Internet smart, but they’re not street smart. They were literally born yesterday, with all the wisdom that entails.
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.
Ephemeris: 11/26/2025 – Checking out the naked eye planets
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, November 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 5:05, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:55. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 10:49 this evening.
Pausing my exploration of AI to check out the naked eye planets this week. Mars and Mercury are too close to the Sun to be seen. Saturn is the brightest star like object in the southeastern sky as soon as it gets dark. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 4/10ths of a degree from being edge on. In 4 days the rings will slowly start to open up. Normally, I’d say that Saturn’s rings are easy to see in a telescope. Currently, the rings appear extremely thin and can be difficult to pick up. Jupiter will rise at 8:29 PM in the east-northeast. Beneath Castor and Pollux, the bright stars of Gemini. By 7 AM, it will appear high in the west southwest, above the stars Procyon below and Sirius, near the horizon. Venus will rise at 7:04 in the east southeast and will probably not be visible.
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
Ephemeris: 11/25/2025 – AI is not your friend
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, November 25th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 5:06, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:54. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 9:38 this evening.
This week while the moon’s up and bright I’m talking about AI or machine intelligence. I don’t like the term artificial intelligence I’d rather use machine intelligence. Artificial intelligence sounds like fakery to me, and there seems to be something really going on in their little computer brains, actually massive computer brains, though their neural networks are nowhere as complex as in the human brain. The various AIs out there have been programmed to be agreeable even to the point of being sycophantic. In talking to one using a microphone and hearing their responses does seem like you are talking to another human. But caution, you are not! There are free versions that you can talk to. Whatever you tell it, it’s remembering and learning.
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.
Ephemeris: 11/24/2025 – Off topic, musings about Machine Intelligence
This is Ephemeris for Monday, November 24th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 15 minutes, setting at 5:07, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:53. The Moon, halfway from new to first quarter, will set at 8:29 this evening.
Now that the Moon’s beginning to brighten in the evening sky, obliterating the faint stars and constellations, I thought I’d spend these bright nights talking about something which has intrigued me because of my former vocation. I’m an amateur astronomer, meaning that I do this for fun, although I made a few bucks lecturing in a planetarium in my early days. But my main career was being a computer systems analyst. I designed and programmed computer systems to do various accounting functions, especially for banks. So I was not anywhere near the cutting edge of computer science. I’ve always been fascinated by the possibility of computer intelligence, and all of a sudden AI is here with all its promise and peril. Let’s investigate!
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
While I will continue to use the abbreviation AI, I mean Machine Intelligence. That it’s not human, doesn’t mean it’s artificial. It’s just different, alien even.
Ephemeris: 11/21/2025 – Finding Taurus the bull
This is Ephemeris for Friday, November 21st. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 5:09, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:49. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 5:36 this evening.
Low in the east at 8 this evening and below the beautiful Pleiades star cluster is Taurus the bull. His face is a letter V shape of stars lying on its side, the star cluster Hyades, which in Greek Mythology were the half-sisters of the Pleiades, with the bright orange-red star Aldebaran at one tip of the V as its angry bloodshot eye. Aldebaran is actually about halfway between us and the cluster. The Pleiades star cluster is in his shoulder. Taurus is seen charging downward at that hour, the rising constellation of Orion. Taurus in Greek mythology was the form the god Zeus assumed when he carried off the maiden Europa. Europa’s still with him as a moon orbiting Zeus’ Roman counterpart, the planet Jupiter.
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
Ephemeris: 11/20/2025 – Venus is disappearing from the morning sky
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, November 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 23 minutes, setting at 5:09, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:48. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.
Yesterday I mentioned that Venus is getting very difficult to spot in the morning sky, rising at about 7:00 AM. It’s moving around behind the Sun, what’s called superior conjunction, so it moves slower than it would when it moves toward inferior conjunction meaning it moves between the Earth and the Sun. It’s closer to the Earth so it appears to move faster. Then it’s only gone for maybe 8 to 10 days, transitioning from the evening sky to the morning sky. However, at superior conjunction which will occur on January 6, it will disappear for 50 days or actually longer. The ancient Mayans calculated that around superior conjunction Venus would disappear for about 50 days. We at a higher latitude would see a longer disappearance, losing it until sometime in late February or early March.
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
Ephemeris: 11/19/2025 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, November 19th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 5:10, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:46. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 8:28 tomorrow morning.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn is the brightest star like object in the southeastern sky as soon as it gets dark. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 4/10ths of a degree from being edge on. In 4 days the rings will slowly start to open up. Normally, I’d say that Saturn’s rings are easy to see in a telescope. Currently, the rings appear extremely thin and can be difficult to pick up. Jupiter will rise at 8:58 PM in the east-northeast. By 6:30 AM, it will appear high in the southwest, near the stars of Gemini, with Orion and the other bright stars of winter in the southwest. Venus, which will rise at 6:48 AM will be difficult to spot in the morning twilight.
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
Ephemeris: 11/18/2025 – What other cultures see in the Pleiades
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, November 18th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 27 minutes, setting at 5:11, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:45. The Moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 7:22 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at how some other cultures saw the Pleiades, the star cluster that is seen in the eastern sky these evenings. To the Anishinaabe native peoples around here, the Pleiades is the “Hole in the Sky” or the seven stones that are heated for the sweat lodge ceremony. To the Kiowa, these were sisters who were whisked up into the sky from the top of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, where they were threatened by a huge bear. An Iroquoian legend has seven daughters who danced all day and were drawn into the sky, along with a black bear who danced with them. One daughter heard her mother’s call and fell back down to the Earth. In Norse mythology, these were the goddess Freya’s hens.
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
Ephemeris: 11/17/2025 – More about the Pleiades
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Monday, November 17th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 5:12, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:44. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 6:16 tomorrow morning.
Around 8 in the evening the marvelous small star group called the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters will be in the eastern sky. Most people can see six stars, but they’re called the Seven Sisters, so the story has come up about the Lost Pleiad. It was said that her star was dimmed because she married a mere mortal. In Greek mythology the Pleiades were the daughters of the god Atlas and Pleione. By 9 PM the hunter Orion is rising in the east to chase the Pleiades across the sky until dawn. The word Pleiades is related to the Greek word for sail, and in ancient times the sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea started with the heliacal * rising of the Pleiades at dawn in mid-spring.
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.
* Heliacal Rising – The first appearance in the morning of a celestial body after disappearing in evening twilight.
Addendum
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 