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Ephemeris: 01/30/2026 – Previewing February skies
This is Ephemeris for Friday, January 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 44 minutes, setting at 5:48, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:02. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 7:31 tomorrow morning.
February is the shortest month, even so the daylight hours throughout the month will be getting longer. Daylight hours will increase from 9 hours and 49 minutes Sunday to 11 hours and 7 minutes on the 28th. The sunrise time will decrease from 8:01 Sunday to 7:21 at month’s end. The sunset times will increase from 5:51 today to 6:29 on the 28th. Along with that the altitude of the Sun at noon will increase from 28.4 degrees today to 37.6 degrees at month’s end. It will be a degree lower, and daylight a few minutes shorter, for folks in the Straits area because they are a degree of latitude farther north. Local noon, by the way for Interlochen and Traverse City will be about 12:56 PM at mid month.
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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
February Evening Star Chart
The planets and stars are plotted for the 14th at 9 PM EST in the evening and 6 AM for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere (rotating star finder) you may have to set it to 45 minutes or one hour 45 minutes (Daylight Time) earlier than the current time.
Note the chart times of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. are for the 14th and 15th. For each week before these dates, add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after, subtract ½ hour. Planet positions on dates other than the 15th can be found in the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.
February Morning Star Chart
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations, click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris, the North Star.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
- Extend like a spike to Spica,
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EST | |||||||
| Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2026-02-01 | 6h22m | 6h56m | 19h00m | 19h34m | – | – | 100% |
| 2026-02-02 | 6h21m | 6h55m | 19h01m | 19h35m | – | – | 98% |
| 2026-02-03 | 6h20m | 6h54m | 19h03m | 19h37m | 19h37m | 20h14m | 94% |
| 2026-02-04 | 6h19m | 6h53m | 19h04m | 19h38m | 19h38m | 21h25m | 88% |
| 2026-02-05 | 6h18m | 6h52m | 19h05m | 19h39m | 19h39m | 22h34m | 80% |
| 2026-02-06 | 6h17m | 6h51m | 19h06m | 19h40m | 19h40m | 23h41m | 72% |
| 2026-02-07 | 6h16m | 6h50m | 19h08m | 19h42m | 19h42m | – | 63% |
| 2026-02-08 | 6h15m | 6h49m | 19h09m | 19h43m | 19h43m | 0h48m | 53% |
| 2026-02-09 | 6h13m | 6h47m | 19h10m | 19h44m | 19h44m | 1h55m | 44% |
| 2026-02-10 | 6h12m | 6h46m | 19h12m | 19h45m | 19h45m | 3h01m | 35% |
| 2026-02-11 | 6h11m | 6h45m | 19h13m | 19h47m | 19h47m | 4h04m | 26% |
| 2026-02-12 | 6h10m | 6h43m | 19h14m | 19h48m | 19h48m | 5h01m | 18% |
| 2026-02-13 | 6h08m | 6h42m | 19h15m | 19h49m | 19h49m | 5h50m | 11% |
| 2026-02-14 | 6h07m | 6h41m | 19h17m | 19h50m | 19h50m | 6h07m | 6% |
| 2026-02-15 | 6h06m | 6h39m | 19h18m | 19h52m | 19h52m | 6h06m | 2% |
| 2026-02-16 | 6h04m | 6h38m | 19h19m | 19h53m | 19h53m | 6h04m | 0% |
| 2026-02-17 | 6h03m | 6h37m | 19h21m | 19h54m | 19h54m | 6h03m | 1% |
| 2026-02-18 | 6h01m | 6h35m | 19h22m | 19h56m | 19h56m | 6h01m | 3% |
| 2026-02-19 | 6h00m | 6h34m | 19h23m | 19h57m | 21h06m | 6h00m | 9% |
| 2026-02-20 | 5h58m | 6h32m | 19h24m | 19h58m | 22h21m | 5h58m | 16% |
| 2026-02-21 | 5h57m | 6h31m | 19h26m | 19h59m | 23h39m | 5h57m | 25% |
| 2026-02-22 | 5h55m | 6h29m | 19h27m | 20h01m | – | 5h55m | 35% |
| 2026-02-23 | 5h54m | 6h27m | 19h28m | 20h02m | 0h59m | 5h54m | 47% |
| 2026-02-24 | 5h52m | 6h26m | 19h30m | 20h03m | 2h19m | 5h52m | 58% |
| 2026-02-25 | 5h51m | 6h24m | 19h31m | 20h05m | 3h33m | 5h51m | 69% |
| 2026-02-26 | 5h49m | 6h23m | 19h32m | 20h06m | 4h37m | 5h49m | 79% |
| 2026-02-27 | 5h47m | 6h21m | 19h34m | 20h07m | 5h28m | 5h47m | 87% |
| 2026-02-28 | 5h46m | 6h19m | 19h35m | 20h09m | – | – | 94% |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2019/09/27/
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Feb 1 Su Venus: 6.3° E
1 Su 6:41 AM Moon-Beehive: 1.3° S
1 Su 5:09 PM Full Moon
2 Mo 9:48 PM Moon-Regulus: 0.4° S
3 Tu 2:18 PM Moon Descending Node
7 Sa 3:26 AM Moon-Spica: 2° N
9 Mo 7:43 AM Last Quarter
10 Tu 11:52 AM Moon Apogee: 404600 km
10 Tu 10:19 PM Moon-Antares: 0.8° N
12 Th 7:56 AM Moon South Dec.: 28.4° S
17 Tu 7:01 AM New Moon
17 Tu 7:13 AM Annular Solar Eclipse
Southern Ocean and Antarctica
18 We 1:19 AM Moon Ascending Node
19 Th 12:59 PM Mercury Elongation: 18.1° E
19 Th 6:54 PM Moon-Saturn: 4.8° S
23 Mo 9:43 PM Moon-Pleiades: 1.2° S
24 Tu 7:28 AM First Quarter
24 Tu 6:18 PM Moon Perigee: 370100 km
25 We 6:23 PM Moon North Dec.: 28.4° N
27 Fr 1:26 AM Moon-Jupiter: 4° S
28 Sa 3:07 PM Moon-Beehive: 1.3° S
Mar 1 Su Venus: 13° E
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
February, 2026 Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM |
| | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sun 1| 08:01a 05:51p 09:49 | 06:57p 06:55a |Full Rise 05:41p 100%|
|Mon 2| 08:00a 05:53p 09:52 | 06:58p 06:54a | Rise 07:00p 99%|
|Tue 3| 07:59a 05:54p 09:55 | 07:00p 06:53a | Rise 08:14p 95%|
|Wed 4| 07:58a 05:55p 09:57 | 07:01p 06:52a | Rise 09:25p 89%|
|Thu 5| 07:56a 05:57p 10:00 | 07:02p 06:51a | Rise 10:34p 82%|
|Fri 6| 07:55a 05:58p 10:03 | 07:04p 06:50a | Rise 11:41p 73%|
|Sat 7| 07:54a 06:00p 10:05 | 07:05p 06:49a | Rise 12:48a 64%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 8| 07:52a 06:01p 10:08 | 07:06p 06:47a | Rise 01:55a 55%|
|Mon 9| 07:51a 06:02p 10:11 | 07:07p 06:46a |L Qtr Rise 03:01a 46%|
|Tue 10| 07:50a 06:04p 10:14 | 07:09p 06:45a | Rise 04:03a 36%|
|Wed 11| 07:48a 06:05p 10:16 | 07:10p 06:44a | Rise 05:00a 28%|
|Thu 12| 07:47a 06:07p 10:19 | 07:11p 06:42a | Rise 05:49a 19%|
|Fri 13| 07:45a 06:08p 10:22 | 07:13p 06:41a | Rise 06:30a 12%|
|Sat 14| 07:44a 06:10p 10:25 | 07:14p 06:40a | Rise 07:02a 7%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 07:43a 06:11p 10:28 | 07:15p 06:38a | Rise 07:29a 2%|
|Mon 16| 07:41a 06:12p 10:31 | 07:16p 06:37a | Rise 07:51a 0%|
|Tue 17| 07:39a 06:14p 10:34 | 07:18p 06:36a |New Set 06:39p 0%|
|Wed 18| 07:38a 06:15p 10:37 | 07:19p 06:34a | Set 07:52p 3%|
|Thu 19| 07:36a 06:17p 10:40 | 07:20p 06:33a | Set 09:05p 7%|
|Fri 20| 07:35a 06:18p 10:43 | 07:22p 06:31a | Set 10:21p 14%|
|Sat 21| 07:33a 06:19p 10:46 | 07:23p 06:30a | Set 11:38p 23%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 07:31a 06:21p 10:49 | 07:24p 06:28a | Set 12:58a 33%|
|Mon 23| 07:30a 06:22p 10:52 | 07:26p 06:26a | Set 02:18a 44%|
|Tue 24| 07:28a 06:23p 10:55 | 07:27p 06:25a |F Qtr Set 03:33a 56%|
|Wed 25| 07:27a 06:25p 10:58 | 07:28p 06:23a | Set 04:37a 67%|
|Thu 26| 07:25a 06:26p 11:01 | 07:29p 06:22a | Set 05:27a 77%|
|Fri 27| 07:23a 06:28p 11:04 | 07:31p 06:20a | Set 06:06a 86%|
|Sat 28| 07:21a 06:29p 11:07 | 07:32p 06:18a | Set 06:35a 93%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
Created using my LookingUp for MS-DOS app.
Ephemeris: 01/29/2026 – After Artemis 2 comes Artemis 3 and the landing
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, January 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 5:47, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:04. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 6:44 tomorrow morning.
If Artemis 2 is successful in the late winter and early spring of this year, the next mission will be Artemis 3, a mission to land near the South Pole of the Moon. In order for that to happen a lunar Lander will have to be ready and tested. The Starship HLS or human landing system is currently being built by SpaceX. It’s delivery to the Moon, via Superheavy, Starship’s big booster, will require multiple launches and refueling in orbit, which has yet to be tested. There has been some question as to how many refueling trips will be necessary. NASA and SpaceX seem to differ. However, an uncrewed successful landing will have to be made to prove out the system before the Artemis 3 landing will be attempted.
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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 01/28/2026 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 5:45, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:05. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 5:43 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 southwestern sky as soon as it gets dark. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 2 degrees from being edge on and is slowly opening. Jupiter is the brilliant star-like object in the eastern sky, to the right of Pollux in the pair Castor and Pollux, the bright stars of Gemini. It is still moving slowly to the west, and will, until it stops and reverses its track on March 10th. Jupiter’s 4 brightest moons can be seen even in binoculars, if held steadily enough. They shift position night to night. At 8 PM tonight, all four Galilean moons can be seen, though two may too close to the planet to be picked out in binoculars.
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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 01/27/2026 – Orion’s heat shield problem
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 5:44, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:06. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 4:29 tomorrow morning.
One of the problems that was detected with the reentry of the Artemis 1 mission back in November 2022* was the degradation of the heat shield of the Orion capsule. Chunks of the heat shield actually were breaking off. The technique they use for reentry called the skip reentry was thought to be the culprit. So while they are attempting to redesign the heat shield, Artemis 2 will be using the same type heat shield, but they will not do a skip reentry and come in without a skip off the atmosphere. The reason for using a skip reentry is to lessen the amount of Gs that are pulled by the capsule coming in at 7 miles per second by prolonging the entry and increasing the downrange travel of the capsule. Skip reentry is a proven technique, the Russians have been doing it for decades.
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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
* For the broadcast, I misremembered the date as December 2024. That’s what happens when you’re old.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 01/26/2026 – Artemis, not just flags and footprints
This is Ephemeris for Monday, January 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 35 minutes, setting at 5:43, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:07. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 3:10 tomorrow morning.
The current space race or I might say more properly, Moon race, is more than it was in the 1960s this race is not simply what is called a flag and footprints race get there first and go home. We already did that 57 years ago. But to set up permanent settlements on the moon to explore and extract the Moon’s resources like water. Water is not for export. Whatever water we find on the Moon would still be fairly scarce and probably rationed. There’s also an unknown amount of helium 3, which is a useful fuel for fusion reactors. Something we don’t have on the Earth, but would be the Holy Grail for clean energy production. We don’t know the Moon’s mineral potential, but whatever we find won’t have to be hauled up a quarter of a million miles from the Earth.
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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 01/23/2026 – The new space race
This is Ephemeris for Friday, January 23rd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 5:39, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:09. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 11:17 this evening.
In the 1960s The United States and the Soviet Union engaged into what was called the space race. A race that was essentially to be the first nation to set foot on the Moon. It was a race the United States won when Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon on July 20th 1969. We are now engaged in another space race, this time with China. It looks like Russia is sitting this one out, or are helping the Chinese, though it looks like the Chinese are out innovating them with their own reusable rockets. The stakes are higher this time. There is a place on the Moon in which everyone is interested. That being the Moon’s South Pole which has water in the form of ice in permanently shadowed craters, which would be worth its weight in gold.
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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 01/22/2026 – Artemis II launch window opens up in 15 days
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, January 22nd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 5:37, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:10. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 10:04 this evening.
The launch window for the first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon opens up in a bit more than two weeks. It is made-up of 3 approximately 2 week windows containing four or five possible launch dates that extend to April. This mission is a mission to simply loop around the Moon and come back. It is different from the Apollo 8 mission, that actually orbited the Moon 10 times before returning to the Earth. The four astronauts will become the farthest members of humanity to venture from the Earth. One has hoped that NASA has solved the hydrogen leak problem that plagued the Artemis 1 mission a bit more than a year ago. Hydrogen is a small molecule that can leak through just about anything.
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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 01/21/2026 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 21st. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 23 minutes, setting at 5:36, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:11. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 8:53 this evening.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn is the brightest star-like object in the west-southwestern sky as soon as it gets dark. At 8 PM, it is in roughly in the same direction as the Moon, but a good deal higher in the sky. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 1.8 degrees from being edge on and is slowly opening. Jupiter is the brilliant star-like object in the eastern sky, to the right of Pollux in the pair Castor and Pollux, the bright stars of Gemini. Jupiter’s 4 brightest moons can be seen even in binoculars, if held steady enough. They shift position night to night. At 8 PM tonight, only three will be visible, but the 4th will be appearing from in front of Jupiter later this evening.
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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 01/20/2026 – What’s happening inside the Great Orion Nebula
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 5:35, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:12. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 7:42 this evening.
The closest star nursery to us, places where stars are being born, is the Great Orion Nebula, 1,300 light years away. A light year is about 6 trillion miles, if you want to pace it out. It’s located in the constellation Orion’s sword that hangs below his belt. It is seen in as little as a pair of binoculars, and shines by emission and reflection of the light of a tiny clutch of four stars at its heart, called the Trapezium. These extremely hot young massive stars are not destined to live long. Unlike the Sun’s 10 billion year lifetime, these stars lifespans will be measured in millions of years. Yet do not mourn for them, even now stars are forming within their dusty cocoons in the nebula. The Trapezium stars’ deaths will provide heavy elements for new stars and planets.
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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
There are several videos produced by NASA, ESA and others of a fanciful trip through the Great Orion Nebula. I found them by typing: NASA trip through the Orion nebula into my Internet browser.
Ephemeris: 01/19/2026 – Follow the drinkin’ gourd!
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 19th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 5:33, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:13. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 6:30 this evening. | This day is set aside to honor the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who gave his life for the struggle for equality for blacks and other minorities and to end segregation. A struggle that continues to this day. In the decades before the Civil War runaway slaves would travel, often at night, northward from the slave states of the south to the northern free states and Canada over the metaphorical Underground Railroad. They followed the Drinking Gourd, the Big Dipper as their compass. Over the last several millennia the Great Bear, Ursa Major had been that northward pointer. For the past few millennia the North Pole of the sky had been passing near the handle of the Big Dipper or bear’s tail. Though the Big Dipper isn’t always north, the two stars at the front of the bowl, or gourd, point to the star Polaris, which is nearly at the true North Pole of the sky.
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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 
