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Ephemeris: 02/27/2026 – Previewing March skies

February 27, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Friday, February 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 4 minutes, setting at 6:28, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:21. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 6:06 tomorrow morning.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of March, which will begin Sunday. The Sun will cross the celestial equator in March as the promising season of spring will begin. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 11 hours and 10 minutes Sunday to 12 hours 43 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be just under 38 degrees Sunday and will ascend to nearly 50 degrees on the 31st. Local apparent noon at mid-month, when the Sun passes due south, will be about 1:51 PM after Daylight Saving Time starts on the 8th. Spring will begin on the 20th at 10:46 AM. The big event of the month will be the total lunar eclipse early next Tuesday morning the 3rd.

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

March Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for March evenings.
Star Chart for March evenings, 2026 (10 pm EDT, March 15, 2026). Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 a.m. on the 16th for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour and 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 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than your current time.

Note the chart times of 10 PM on the 15th, and 6 AM on the 16th. To find planet positions on dates other than the dates here, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.

March Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for March mornings.
Star Chart for March mornings, 2026 (6 a.m. EDT March 16, 2026). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

      EST        
  Morning Twilight Evening Twilight Dark Night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2026-03-01 5h44m 6h18m 19h36m 20h10m – – 98%
2026-03-02 5h42m 6h16m 19h37m 20h11m – – 100%
2026-03-03 5h40m 6h14m 19h39m 20h13m – – 99%
2026-03-04 5h39m 6h13m 19h40m 20h14m 20h14m 20h14m 97%
2026-03-05 5h37m 6h11m 19h41m 20h15m 20h15m 21h23m 92%
2026-03-06 5h35m 6h09m 19h43m 20h17m 20h17m 22h31m 86%
2026-03-07 5h33m 6h07m 19h44m 20h18m 20h18m 23h39m 79%
      EDT        
2026-03-08 6h31m 7h05m 20h45m 21h19m 21h19m 0h39m 70%
2026-03-09 6h30m 7h04m 20h46m 21h21m 21h21m 1h46m 61%
2026-03-10 6h28m 7h02m 20h48m 21h22m 21h22m 2h50m 52%
2026-03-11 6h26m 7h00m 20h49m 21h23m 21h23m 3h50m 43%
2026-03-12 6h24m 6h58m 20h50m 21h25m 21h25m 4h42m 33%
2026-03-13 6h22m 6h56m 20h52m 21h26m 21h26m 5h26m 24%
2026-03-14 6h20m 6h54m 20h53m 21h27m 21h27m 6h01m 16%
2026-03-15 6h18m 6h53m 20h54m 21h29m 21h29m 6h18m 9%
2026-03-16 6h16m 6h51m 20h56m 21h30m 21h30m 6h16m 4%
2026-03-17 6h14m 6h49m 20h57m 21h32m 21h32m 6h14m 1%
2026-03-18 6h12m 6h47m 20h58m 21h33m 21h33m 6h12m 0%
2026-03-19 6h10m 6h45m 21h00m 21h35m 21h35m 6h10m 2%
2026-03-20 6h08m 6h43m 21h01m 21h36m 22h22m 6h08m 6%
2026-03-21 6h06m 6h41m 21h02m 21h37m 23h44m 6h06m 13%
2026-03-22 6h04m 6h39m 21h04m 21h39m – 6h04m 22%
2026-03-23 6h02m 6h37m 21h05m 21h40m 1h06m 6h02m 32%
2026-03-24 6h00m 6h35m 21h06m 21h42m 2h24m 6h00m 43%
2026-03-25 5h58m 6h33m 21h08m 21h43m 3h32m 5h58m 55%
2026-03-26 5h56m 6h31m 21h09m 21h45m 4h26m 5h56m 66%
2026-03-27 5h54m 6h29m 21h10m 21h46m 5h08m 5h54m 76%
2026-03-28 5h51m 6h27m 21h12m 21h48m 5h39m 5h51m 84%
2026-03-29 5h49m 6h25m 21h13m 21h49m – – 91%
2026-03-30 5h47m 6h23m 21h15m 21h51m – – 96%
2026-03-31 5h45m 6h21m 21h16m 21h52m – – 99%

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

Mar  1  Su            Venus: 13° E
     2  Mo   7:00 AM  Moon-Regulus: 0.4° S
     2  Mo  11:35 PM  Moon Descending Node
     3  Tu   6:35 AM  Total Lunar Eclipse
     3  Tu   6:38 AM  Full Moon
     6  Fr  12:24 PM  Moon-Spica: 2° N
     7  Sa   6:01 AM  Mercury Inferior Conj.
    10  Tu   7:32 AM  Moon-Antares: 0.8° N
    10  Tu   9:43 AM  Moon Apogee: 404400 km
    11  We   5:39 AM  Last Quarter
    11  We   5:12 PM  Moon South Dec.: 28.4° S
    15  Su   3:13 PM  Mercury-Mars: 3.4° N
    17  Tu  11:22 AM  Moon Ascending Node
    18  We   9:23 PM  New Moon
    20  Fr   8:39 AM  Moon-Venus: 4.7° S
    20  Fr  10:46 AM  Vernal Equinox
    22  Su   6:16 AM  Neptune Conjunction
    22  Su   7:40 AM  Moon Perigee: 366900 km
    23  Mo   4:32 AM  Moon-Pleiades: 1.1° S
    25  We  12:46 AM  Moon North Dec.: 28.4° N
    25  We   4:27 AM  Saturn Conjunction
    25  We   3:18 PM  First Quarter
    26  Th   8:13 AM  Moon-Jupiter: 4° S
    27  Fr  10:15 PM  Moon-Beehive: 1.3° S
    29  Su   3:00 PM  Moon-Regulus: 0.4° S
    30  Mo   7:34 AM  Moon Descending Node
Apr  1  We            Venus: 20.5° 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
March, 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| 07:20a  06:30p  11:10 | 07:33p  06:17a |      Set  06:59a   97%|
|Mon  2| 07:18a  06:32p  11:13 | 07:35p  06:15a |      Set  07:19a  100%|
|Tue  3| 07:16a  06:33p  11:16 | 07:36p  06:13a |Full  Rise 07:04p  100%|
|Wed  4| 07:14a  06:34p  11:19 | 07:37p  06:12a |      Rise 08:14p   97%|
|Thu  5| 07:13a  06:36p  11:22 | 07:39p  06:10a |      Rise 09:22p   93%|
|Fri  6| 07:11a  06:37p  11:25 | 07:40p  06:08a |      Rise 10:30p   87%|
|Sat  7| 07:09a  06:38p  11:29 | 07:41p  06:06a |      Rise 11:38p   80%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
| EDT  |      Time Change      |                |                       |
|Sun  8| 08:07a  07:39p  11:32 | 08:42p  07:04a |      Rise 01:45a   72%|
|Mon  9| 08:06a  07:41p  11:35 | 08:44p  07:03a |      Rise 02:50a   63%|
|Tue 10| 08:04a  07:42p  11:38 | 08:45p  07:01a |      Rise 03:50a   54%|
|Wed 11| 08:02a  07:43p  11:41 | 08:46p  06:59a |L Qtr Rise 04:42a   44%|
|Thu 12| 08:00a  07:45p  11:44 | 08:48p  06:57a |      Rise 05:25a   35%|
|Fri 13| 07:58a  07:46p  11:47 | 08:49p  06:55a |      Rise 06:01a   26%|
|Sat 14| 07:56a  07:47p  11:50 | 08:50p  06:53a |      Rise 06:29a   18%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 07:55a  07:49p  11:54 | 08:52p  06:52a |      Rise 06:53a   11%|
|Mon 16| 07:53a  07:50p  11:57 | 08:53p  06:50a |      Rise 07:14a    5%|
|Tue 17| 07:51a  07:51p  12:00 | 08:54p  06:48a |      Rise 07:33a    1%|
|Wed 18| 07:49a  07:52p  12:03 | 08:56p  06:46a |New   Set  07:46p    0%|
|Thu 19| 07:47a  07:54p  12:06 | 08:57p  06:44a |      Set  09:02p    1%|
|Fri 20| 07:45a  07:55p  12:09 | 08:58p  06:42a |      Set  10:21p    5%|
|Sat 21| 07:43a  07:56p  12:12 | 09:00p  06:40a |      Set  11:43p   11%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 07:42a  07:57p  12:15 | 09:01p  06:38a |      Set  01:05a   20%|
|Mon 23| 07:40a  07:59p  12:19 | 09:02p  06:36a |      Set  02:23a   30%|
|Tue 24| 07:38a  08:00p  12:22 | 09:04p  06:34a |      Set  03:31a   41%|
|Wed 25| 07:36a  08:01p  12:25 | 09:05p  06:32a |F Qtr Set  04:26a   52%|
|Thu 26| 07:34a  08:03p  12:28 | 09:07p  06:30a |      Set  05:07a   63%|
|Fri 27| 07:32a  08:04p  12:31 | 09:08p  06:28a |      Set  05:39a   74%|
|Sat 28| 07:30a  08:05p  12:34 | 09:09p  06:26a |      Set  06:03a   83%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 29| 07:29a  08:06p  12:37 | 09:11p  06:24a |      Set  06:24a   90%|
|Mon 30| 07:27a  08:08p  12:40 | 09:12p  06:22a |      Set  06:42a   95%|
|Tue 31| 07:25a  08:09p  12:43 | 09:13p  06:20a |      Set  07:00a   99%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise

Created using my LookingUp for MS-DOS app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview, Observing Tags:

Ephemeris: 02/26/2026 – Get ready for next Tuesday morning’s Lunar Eclipse!

February 26, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, February 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 1 minute, setting at 6:26, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:23. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 5:27 tomorrow morning.

Early next Tuesday morning there will be total lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse, also known as an eclipse of the Moon occurs when the full moon moves into the earth’s shadow, causing it to become much darker. Usually a fair amount of sunlight does get in by being bent around the Earth by its atmosphere through all the sunrises and sunsets going on at that time. The moon’s color generally becomes very dark red, this also depends on the Earth’s atmosphere and the amount of clouds, smoke and volcanic ash that’s in the Earth’s atmosphere at that time. The partial phase will begin at 4:50 AM and will last until totality starts At 6:04 AM totality will last until 7:02 AM. The growing twilight may cause the moon to actually disappear.

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

Three stages of the total lunar eclipse of March 3rd 2026, ass it might be seen from the Grand Traverse region of Michigan. On the left is about first contact of the umbra, the inner part of the Earth’s shadow and the beginning of the partial phase. The Moon at that time will have a dusky upper left part, as it is deep in the outer shadow of the Earth, called penumbra. The umbra will begin to creep in from that point. In the center, is just before totality. At this point the eclipsed part of the Moon should be a dark red color. The last image is the moon at mid eclipse. However the Moon may not be visible at this point, because the sky is brightening with twilight. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
Total Lunar Eclipse March 3, 2026 Events for the Grand Traverse area (Eastern Standard Time)
TimeEvent
03:44 AMBegin Penumbral phase. This is the theoretical start of the eclipse. Nothing will appear to happen until about half an hour before the partial phase starts. Then the upper left part of the Moon will appear to darken.
04:50 AMBegin Partial phase. The umbra will encroach onto the Moon from upper left to lower right. The dull red of the umbral shadow may be discerned near the beginning of totality.
05:40 AMAstronomical Twilight begins. The Sun is 18° below the horizon.
06:04 AMBegin Totality. The expected dull red of the Moon will be brighter on the edge nearest the edge of the umbral shadow. How long will the totally eclipsed Moon be visible?
06:14 AMNautical Twilight begins. The Sun is 12° below the horizon.
06:34 AMMid-Eclipse
07:03 AMEnd Totality. Will a tiny slice of the Moon become visible in the brightening sky before it sets?
07:18 AMSunrise
07:19 AMMoonset

Eclipse event times are strictly convertible by time zone. Twilight, sunrise and moonset events depend on one’s location. For locations west of Michigan, the eclipse may occur completely in darkness.

Categories: Astronomical Event, Ephemeris Program, Lunar Eclipse, Observing

Ephemeris: 02/25/2026 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

February 25, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, February 25th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 58 minutes, setting at 6:25, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:25. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 4:37 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. At 7:00 PM or about and 1/2 hour after sunset Venus may be seen very low in the West above it and a bit to the right is Mercury which will be really difficult to spot since it is dimming now and above left of that is Saturn which is getting very low in the sky. We are in the last third of winter and the sunset times are increasing rapidly and taking with it the planets near the Sun including Saturn. By 8 PM Saturn will be very low in the West and not a very good object for telescope viewing. Jupiter is the brilliant star-like object more than halfway up in the southeastern sky, and tonight is below and left of the Moon. It’s the brightest star-like object in the sky. It is still moving to the west, but is slowing down and will stop and reverse its course 13 days from now.

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

Saturn with Mercury and Venus in the west-southwestern sky at 7 PM tonight February 25, 2026, or 35 minutes after sunset. Spotting Mercury and Venus will be problematic: being too low in Venus' case, and too faint in Mercury's.
Saturn with Mercury and Venus in the west-southwestern sky at 7 PM tonight February 25, 2026, or 35 minutes after sunset. Spotting Mercury and Venus will be problematic: being too low in Venus’ case, and too faint in Mercury’s. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, February 25, 2026, in its orientation at 9:00 PM moving against the stars of Gemini.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, February 25, 2026, in its orientation at 9:00 PM moving against the stars of Gemini. Also shown is its track from last July to next July, and the retrograde loop that it is currently making, slowly moving to the West which it will do for the next 13 days until it stops (becomes stationary) on March 10th. Then it will resume its eastward motion. The inset shows a magnified view of the west end of the retrograde loop. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The Moon 1½ days past first quarter, as seen tonight, February 25, 2026. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Jupiter is the one good planet available in a small telescope. Saturn is becoming too low in the sky to deliver a good image. This is how Jupiter will appear at 9 PM.
Jupiter is the one good planet available in a small telescope. Saturn is becoming too low in the sky to deliver a good image. This is how Jupiter will appear at 9 PM, with the exception of Ganymede with will begin its transit of the face of Jupiter at 8:56 PM EST. The satellites are shown much brighter compared to Jupiter than they actually are, so a satellite will seem to disappear against the brighter planet. Ganymede will not reappear before Jupiter sets for our location. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on February 25th, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 26th.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on February 25th, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 26th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun, Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun, Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, February 25th and 26th, 2026. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 02/24/2026 – Three cool craters at the Moon’s first quarter

February 24, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, February 24th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 6:23, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:27. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 3:33 tomorrow morning.

By the time we see the moon this evening it will be approximately half a day after became first quarter so it will be slightly gibbous tonight. Near the center of the moon near the terminator is a group of three craters . They are not a chain of craters in that they are of all of different ages. The largest in the north, called Ptolemaeus is named after Claudius Ptolemy the last great ancient Greek astronomer. The second is Alphonsus named after a Castilian king who was an astronomer. And the southern crater is Arzachel named after an 11th century Arabian astronomer and mathematician. In 1958 Soviet Astronomer Nikolai A. Kozyrev recorded the formation of a cloud near the center of the crater Alphonsus, suggesting perhaps some volcanic venting or activity.

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

The telescopic first quarter Moon, featuring the three famous craters: Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, and Arzachel. Moon image created using Stellarium.
Ranger spacecraft and closeup image of the Alphonsus crater.
Left: The Ranger spacecraft. Right: The floor of the crater Alphonsus from Ranger 9. Only the last 3 Ranger spacecraft were successful. They transmitted images all the way down as they crashed into the Moon. Credit NASA.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 02/23/2026 – The Moon passes the Pleiades tonight

February 23, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Monday, February 23rd. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 6:22, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:28. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 2:18 tomorrow morning.

Tonight around 11o’clock the Pleiades star cluster will be just to the lower left of the nearly first quarter Moon. It will be very hard to spot them near the bright Moon, however they might be spotted with binoculars. Tonight the Moon will not occult or pass in front of the Pleiades’ brightest stars. The best time to see the Moon near or occulting the Pleiades is when it’s a crescent, and doesn’t overwhelm them, which will be later on this spring. However, the Moon passes by the Pleiades about a month apart, but they occur either in the afternoon or the morning hours so it won’t be as spectacular. The moon will also have close passages of the planet Venus this spring . The closest approach will be on May 18th.

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

The nearly first quarter Moon will be passing north of the Pleiades this evening.
The nearly first quarter Moon will be passing north of the Pleiades this evening. The Moon actually far outshines the Pleiades, so one will have to view this event with binoculars or a low power telescope. The stars might be better seen by putting the Moon just out of the field of view. This display is actually centered on the star Alcyone the brightest star of the six of the Pleiades that are visible. This is an alt-azimuth orientation, where up is up and down is down. The sky rotates as it moves from east to west. During this period the Moon and Pleiades will be moving from the southwest down to the west-northwestern horizon. This display is for Northern Michigan. The apparent relationship between the Moon and the Pleiades changes with the observer’s location. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
Categories: Conjunction, Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 02/20/2026 – The star that’s called “Before the Dog”

February 20, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Friday, February 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 6:18, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:33. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 10:21 this evening.

The star Procyon is in Orion’s little hunting dog, Canis Minor, which contains only one other star. It can be found by using the shoulder stars of Orion, Bellatrix and Betelgeuse, pointing to the left and down a bit to Procyon at 9 PM. With Jupiter above, Betelgeuse to the right and Sirius below, it makes an imposing diamond of stars. The word Procyon means “Before the Dog” meaning that rises before the Dog Star, Sirius, even though it is east of it. Procyon is also north of Sirius, which for observers above 30° north latitude, it does indeed rise before the Dog Star. It is a star like Sirius, though it’s not as bright, or white. Procyon is 11.5 light years away while Sirius is 8.6. Both have tiny white dwarf companion stars.

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

How to find Procyon and Canis Minor.
How to find Procyon and Canis Minor with the help of Orion’s stars Betelgeuse and Bellatrix (at the top of the “n” in Orion). Jupiter, Betelgeuse, Sirius and Procyon make a temporary diamond in the winter sky this year. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Observing, Star Names Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 02/19/2026 – The star called Pup

February 19, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, February 19th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 40 minutes, setting at 6:17, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:35. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 9:05 this evening.

Sirius is the brightest nighttime star and is located in the south at 9 p.m. below and a bit left of Orion the Hunter. We’ve visited Sirius last Monday, but there is another star in the Sirius system that is practically invisible due to Sirius’ dazzling glare. Its name is Sirius B, nicknamed the Pup, alluding to Sirius’ Dog Star title as the heart of Canis Major, Orion’s larger hunting dog. The tiny star was suspected as far back as 1834 due to Sirius’ wavy path in the sky against the more distant stars. Sirius and the Pup have 50-year orbits of each other. The Pup was first seen in 1862. The Pup was the first of a new class of stars to be discovered, white dwarfs. The Pup, with the mass of the Sun, is packed into the volume of 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

Orion's belt points to Sirius
In the southern sky, Orion’s belt points to Sirius. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
Sirius and the Pup's path through the sky
Sirius A & B’s path in the sky showing the wobble that betrayed the Pup’s presence. Credit Mike Guidry, University of Tennessee.
The orbits of Sirius A and B about their center of mass
The orbits of Sirius A and B about their center of mass. The represented scale of the sizes of the two stars are also. Sirius A is twice the mass of the Sun, and 1.7 times it’s diameter. Sirius B (Pup) has the mass of the Sun, and about 0.008 times the size of the Sun, or about the size of the Earth.
Two views of Sirius and the Pup
Sirius A and B imaged by two different space telescopes, revealing dramatically different views! Hubble’s image (left) shows Sirius A shining brightly in visible light, with diminutive Sirius B a tiny dot. However, in Chandra’s image (right) tiny Sirius B is dramatically brighter in X-rays! The “Universe in a Different Light” activity highlights more surprising views of some familiar objects: http://bit.ly/different-light-nsn NASA, ESA, H. Bond (STScI), and M. Barstow (University of Leicester) (left); NASA/SAO/CXC (right)
A plot of many observations of Sirius B's position around Sirius A.
A plot of many observations of Sirius B’s position around Sirius A, color coded by the method of observation. Those from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) are the most accurate. Credit: The Sirius System and Its Astrophysical Puzzles: Hubble Space Telescope and Ground-based Astrometry
by Howard E. Bond et al 2017 ApJ 840 70.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Stars Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 02/18/2026 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

February 18, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Ash Wednesday, February 18th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 6:15, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:36. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 7:52 this evening.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. After sunset Venus may show up very low in the West probably before 7:00 PM. Above Venus, tonight, will be the 1 1/2 day old Moon and above it and very close, the planet Mercury making a rare appearance in our evening sky. At 8 PM Saturn remains low in the west southwestern sky, and it will set before 9 PM. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 3.1 degrees from being edge on and is slowly opening. Jupiter is the brilliant star-like object more than halfway up in the east-southeastern sky. It’s the brightest star-like object in the sky. It is still moving to the west, but is slowing down and will stop and reverse its course 20 days now.

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

Saturn appears with Mercury, the Moon and maybe even Venus in the west-southwestern sky at 7 PM tonight.
Saturn appears with Mercury, the Moon and maybe even Venus in the west-southwestern sky at 7 PM tonight February 18, 2026, or 45 minutes after sunset. The planet Mercury will most likely be dimmer than it appears here. It is always hard to spot in the twilight, though being just above the Moon will help tonight. Start looking for it around 6:45 PM or about a half hour after sunset. Created using Stellarium.
A closeup of Mercury and the day and a half old Moon.
A closeup of Mercury and the day and a half old Moon. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, February 18, 2026, in its orientation at 9:00 PM moving against the stars of Gemini. Also shown is its track from last July to next July, and the retrograde loop that is currently making.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, February 18, 2026, in its orientation at 9:00 PM moving against the stars of Gemini. Also shown is its track from last July to next July, and the retrograde loop that is currently making, slowly moving to the West which it will do for the next 20 days until it stops (becomes stationary) on March 10th. Then it will resume its eastward motion. The inset shows a magnified view of the west end of the retrograde loop. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 9 PM tonight.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 9 PM tonight, February 18, 2026. Saturn will be 16.1″ in diameter, but its rings, being nearly edge on, may show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 37.4″. They are tilted 3.1° from being edge on. Jupiter will be 44.0″ in diameter. Earlier in the evening Mercury may be glimpsed just a bove the day and a half old Moon. Its too small to be represented here, because it’s only 7.0″ in diameter and is 52.8% illuminated. If you’re lucky enough to spot Venus, it’s 10″ in diameter and 98.4% illuminated. The (”) symbol means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on February 18th, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 19th. The Moon and Mercury labels overlap near the sunset sun. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun, Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, February 18th and 19th, 2026
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun, Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, February 18th and 19th, 2026. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 02/17/2026 – There’s an annular solar eclipse today… if you’re a penguin

February 17, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Fat Tuesday, February 17th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 6:14, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:38. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.

This morning there is an annular solar eclipse occurring. Don’t run outside to see it, especially if you’re here in northern Michigan. The eclipse is only visible in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. However, this eclipse marks the beginning of an eclipse season, and we will have an eclipse that will be visible for our location in two weeks: a total lunar eclipse, which will be visible before sunrise on Tuesday morning, March 3rd. There are two periods were eclipses will occur in a year, with at least one of the sun and the moon. These periods are separated by a little less than six months, and last about 35 days. That’s about 5 1/2 days longer than a lunar month, so it is possible to squeeze in another eclipse, though not this time.

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

An adaption of the NASA eclipse map for the annular solar eclipse of February 17th 2026. The path of angularity is almost completely on Antarctica and a bit of the Southern Ocean.
An adaption of the NASA eclipse map for the annular solar eclipse of February 17th 2026. The path of angularity is almost completely on Antarctica and a bit of the Southern Ocean. The area of partial eclipse will extend from southern Africa along the eastern African coast and Madagascar. They will see a very slight partial eclipse. The eclipse season started about February 11th and will extend for 35 days. It will include a lunar eclipse which will be visible for us on the morning of March 3rd. Map by Fred Espenak. The original map is located at https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2026Feb17A.GIF
This is a diagram showing how eclipse seasons occur, due to the motions of the sun the moon and the wobbling of the moon’s orbit. The nodes which are the crossing points of the planes of the moons and the earth’s orbit around the sun shift westward over a period of 18.6 years. This causes the eclipse seasons to move earlier and earlier in the year over 18.6 years. Eclipses can occur when the sun is within 17° of the ascending or the descending nodes which is why eclipses eclipse seasons occur every six months and the season is long enough to squeeze in at least two eclipses, one each of the sun and the moon, and possibly a third if one occurs at the very beginning of the eclipse season.
Categories: Concepts, Eclipses, Ephemeris Program Tags: , ,

Ephemeris: 02/16/2026 – The Dog Star

February 16, 2026 Comments off

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for President’s Day, Monday, February 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 6:12, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:39. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:51 tomorrow morning.

The second-brightest star-like object in the evening sky is Sirius, also known as the Dog Star. It also is the brightest nighttime star in our skies period.  Tonight at 9 p.m. it’s located in the southern sky.  The Dog Star name comes from its position at the heart of the constellation Canis Major, the great dog of Orion the hunter.  The three stars of Orion’s belt tilt to the lower left to Sirius. Sirius means ‘Dazzling One’, because of its great brilliance and twinkling.  Its Egyptian name was Sopdet, and its first appearance in the dawn skies around July 20th signaled the flooding of the Nile, and the beginning of the agricultural year.  The relationship of the heliacal rising of Sirius and the seasonal or tropical year lasted from about 2900 BCE to the start of the Common Era. Sirius owes much of its brilliance to the fact that it lies close to us, only 8.6 light years away.

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

Orion's belt points to Sirius
In the southern sky, Orion’s belt points to Sirius. Created using Stellarium, Libreoffice and GIMP.
The Egyptian used the heliacal rising of Sirius as a signal that the flooding of the Nile was imminent, starting their agricultural year.
The Egyptians used the heliacal rising of Sirius as a signal that the flooding of the Nile was imminent, starting their agricultural year. The Greeks called the star Sothis, while the Egyptians themselves called it Sopdet, a goddess, and consort of the god Sah, our Orion. Part of my presentation on ancient Egyptian astronomy.

Trivia Note

The Greeks invented the term “Dog days of summer” for the hottest days of July because they thought that Sirius added its intensity to the heat of the Sun to make it hotter out. So why doesn’t Sirius help warm our winter nights? Just asking.

Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Mythology, Observing, Stars Tags: , , , ,