Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

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