Archive
Ephemeris: 07/03/2026 – The celestial scorpion is crawling out on the southern horizon tonight
This is Ephemeris for Friday, July 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:02. The Moon, halfway from full to last quarter, will rise at 11:47 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, NGC 6231, seen in binoculars at that first bend in the tail that is unfortunately too low to appreciate from this far north. I was very impressed with it when spotting it from the Florida Keys when I was down there in 1986 to observe Halley’s Comet.
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: 07/02/2026 – Finding Ophiuchus, the celestial snake handler
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, July 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:02. The Moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 11:26 this evening.
The red star Antares shines in the south at 11 p.m. In the constellation of Scorpius. In the area of sky above and a little to the left lies a large constellation of faint stars called Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer. The constellation shape is like a large bell, which reminds me of the head, shoulders and arms of a fellow that’s holding the large snake across his body, hip high. The serpent he’s holding is Serpens, the only two-part constellation in the heavens. The head rises to Ophiuchus’ right, toward Hercules, and the tail extends up to the left, toward Aquila the eagle. In Greek myth, Ophiuchus represents the great physician Aesculapius, educated by the god Apollo, and the centaur Chiron, who is found in the stars as Sagittarius, now rising below and left of him.
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: 07/01/2026 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:01. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 11:01 this evening.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. By 10:30 PM tonight, nearly an hour after sunset, Venus is easily seen in the western sky, with Jupiter barely above the horizon, and may not be visible. A telescope will show a very tiny gibbous disc of Venus, because it is still pretty much beyond the Sun, 97 million miles (156 million kilometers) away from us. Over the next nearly 4 months it will be moving closer to us and becoming much larger. In the morning, Saturn will rise at 1:41 AM, followed by dimmer Mars nearly 2 hours later. The Earth is now chasing down Mars, and later this year the launch window will open to send spacecraft to the Red Planet. Mars will be next closest to the Earth in February next year.
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: 06/30/2026 – Previewing the skies of July
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for International Asteroid Day, Tuesday, June 30th, the 118th anniversary of the Tunguska event in Siberia. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:01. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 10:31 this evening.
Let’s preview July’s skies. The Sun, having reached its northern solstice, is beginning to slide southward again, at first imperceptibly, then with greater speed. The daylight hours will decrease from 15 hours and 30 minutes tomorrow to 14 hours 41 minutes at month’s end. The daylight hours will be slightly shorter south of Interlochen, and slightly longer to the north. The altitude of the Sun at local noon, when the Sun is due south, will decrease from 68 degrees today to 63 degrees at month’s end. The Sun will be a degree lower in the Straits area. Despite the warmth, the Earth will reach its greatest distance from the Sun next Monday the 6th.
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
July Evening Star Chart
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 PM EDT in the evening and 4 AM on the 16th for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Interlochen/Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Note, the chart times of 11 PM and 4 AM are for the 15th & 16th respectively. For each week before these dates, add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th, subtract ½ hour, or 28 minutes. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog.
July Morning Star Chart
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2026-07-01 | 3h35m | 4h37m | 23h00m | 0h03m | – | – | 96% |
| 2026-07-02 | 3h36m | 4h38m | 22h59m | 0h02m | – | – | 91% |
| 2026-07-03 | 3h37m | 4h39m | 22h59m | 0h01m | – | – | 84% |
| 2026-07-04 | 3h38m | 4h40m | 22h59m | 0h00m | – | – | 76% |
| 2026-07-05 | 3h39m | 4h41m | 22h58m | 23h59m | 23h59m | 0h06m | 67% |
| 2026-07-06 | 3h41m | 4h42m | 22h57m | 23h58m | 23h58m | 0h24m | 57% |
| 2026-07-07 | 3h42m | 4h42m | 22h57m | 23h57m | 23h57m | 0h42m | 46% |
| 2026-07-08 | 3h44m | 4h44m | 22h56m | 23h56m | 23h56m | 1h02m | 35% |
| 2026-07-09 | 3h45m | 4h45m | 22h55m | 23h55m | 23h55m | 1h27m | 24% |
| 2026-07-10 | 3h47m | 4h46m | 22h55m | 23h54m | 23h54m | 1h57m | 15% |
| 2026-07-11 | 3h48m | 4h47m | 22h54m | 23h52m | 23h52m | 2h38m | 7% |
| 2026-07-12 | 3h50m | 4h48m | 22h53m | 23h51m | 23h51m | 3h33m | 2% |
| 2026-07-13 | 3h51m | 4h49m | 22h52m | 23h49m | 23h49m | 3h51m | 0% |
| 2026-07-14 | 3h53m | 4h50m | 22h51m | 23h48m | 23h48m | 3h53m | 1% |
| 2026-07-15 | 3h55m | 4h51m | 22h50m | 23h46m | 23h46m | 3h55m | 5% |
| 2026-07-16 | 3h57m | 4h53m | 22h49m | 23h45m | 23h45m | 3h57m | 11% |
| 2026-07-17 | 3h58m | 4h54m | 22h48m | 23h43m | 23h43m | 3h58m | 19% |
| 2026-07-18 | 4h00m | 4h55m | 22h47m | 23h42m | 23h42m | 4h00m | 28% |
| 2026-07-19 | 4h02m | 4h57m | 22h45m | 23h40m | 23h58m | 4h02m | 38% |
| 2026-07-20 | 4h04m | 4h58m | 22h44m | 23h38m | – | 4h04m | 48% |
| 2026-07-21 | 4h06m | 4h59m | 22h43m | 23h36m | 0h18m | 4h06m | 58% |
| 2026-07-22 | 4h08m | 5h01m | 22h42m | 23h35m | 0h39m | 4h08m | 67% |
| 2026-07-23 | 4h10m | 5h02m | 22h40m | 23h33m | 1h05m | 4h10m | 76% |
| 2026-07-24 | 4h11m | 5h04m | 22h39m | 23h31m | 1h37m | 4h11m | 83% |
| 2026-07-25 | 4h13m | 5h05m | 22h37m | 23h29m | 2h16m | 4h13m | 90% |
| 2026-07-26 | 4h15m | 5h06m | 22h36m | 23h27m | 3h04m | 4h15m | 95% |
| 2026-07-27 | 4h17m | 5h08m | 22h35m | 23h25m | 4h01m | 4h17m | 98% |
| 2026-07-28 | 4h19m | 5h09m | 22h33m | 23h23m | – | – | 100% |
| 2026-07-29 | 4h21m | 5h11m | 22h32m | 23h21m | – | – | 100% |
| 2026-07-30 | 4h23m | 5h12m | 22h30m | 23h19m | – | – | 97% |
| 2026-07-31 | 4h25m | 5h14m | 22h28m | 23h17m | – | – | 93% |
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/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Jul 1 We Venus: 41.1° E
4 Sa 3:51 AM Moon Ascending Node
6 Mo 10:59 AM Aphelion: 1.0166 AU
7 Tu 3:29 PM Last Quarter
9 Th 10:36 AM Venus-Regulus: 1° N
10 Fr 6:54 PM Moon-Pleiades: 1.1° S
12 Su 9:17 AM Mars-Aldebaran: 5.3° N
12 Su 11:18 AM Moon North Dec.: 28° N
12 Su 9:24 PM Mercury Inferior Conjunction
13 Mo 3:50 AM Moon Perigee: 359100 km
14 Tu 5:43 AM New Moon
16 Th 8:07 PM Moon-Regulus: 0.5° N
16 Th 8:27 PM Moon Descending Node
17 Fr 12:31 PM Moon-Venus: 2.1° N
20 Mo 11:21 PM Moon-Spica: 2.5° N
21 Tu 7:06 AM First Quarter
24 Fr 5:00 PM Moon-Antares: 0.6° N
25 Sa 12:45 PM Moon Apogee: 405500 km
25 Sa 11:56 PM Moon South Dec.: 28.1° S
28 Tu 6:02 AM Delta Aquarid Shower: ZHR = 20
29 We 8:28 AM Jupiter Conjunction
29 We 10:36 AM Full Moon
31 Fr 7:54 AM Moon Ascending Node
All event times are given for UTC-4:00 Eastern Daylight Saving Time thereafter.
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.
Note that the site is now kept up for archival purposes. Fred Espenak retired from NASA several years ago and has his own site, AstroPixels, which contain the same information: http://astropixels.com/almanac/almanac.html. However, it uses standard time all year.
Fred passed away a year ago, on June 1, 2025. RIP.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
July, 2026 Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM |
| | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Wed 1| 06:01a 09:32p 15:30 | 10:57p 04:35a | Rise 11:01p 96%|
|Thu 2| 06:01a 09:31p 15:30 | 10:56p 04:36a | Rise 11:26p 92%|
|Fri 3| 06:02a 09:31p 15:29 | 10:56p 04:37a | Rise 11:47p 86%|
|Sat 4| 06:02a 09:31p 15:28 | 10:55p 04:38a | Rise 12:05a 78%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 5| 06:03a 09:30p 15:27 | 10:55p 04:38a | Rise 12:23a 69%|
|Mon 6| 06:04a 09:30p 15:26 | 10:54p 04:39a | Rise 12:42a 59%|
|Tue 7| 06:05a 09:30p 15:25 | 10:54p 04:40a |L Qtr Rise 01:02a 48%|
|Wed 8| 06:05a 09:29p 15:23 | 10:53p 04:41a | Rise 01:26a 37%|
|Thu 9| 06:06a 09:29p 15:22 | 10:52p 04:42a | Rise 01:57a 26%|
|Fri 10| 06:07a 09:28p 15:21 | 10:51p 04:43a | Rise 02:38a 17%|
|Sat 11| 06:08a 09:28p 15:20 | 10:50p 04:45a | Rise 03:33a 9%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 12| 06:08a 09:27p 15:18 | 10:50p 04:46a | Rise 04:43a 3%|
|Mon 13| 06:09a 09:26p 15:17 | 10:49p 04:47a | Rise 06:04a 0%|
|Tue 14| 06:10a 09:26p 15:15 | 10:48p 04:48a |New Set 10:04p 1%|
|Wed 15| 06:11a 09:25p 15:13 | 10:47p 04:49a | Set 10:35p 4%|
|Thu 16| 06:12a 09:24p 15:12 | 10:45p 04:50a | Set 10:59p 9%|
|Fri 17| 06:13a 09:24p 15:10 | 10:44p 04:52a | Set 11:20p 17%|
|Sat 18| 06:14a 09:23p 15:08 | 10:43p 04:53a | Set 11:39p 26%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 19| 06:15a 09:22p 15:07 | 10:42p 04:54a | Set 11:58p 35%|
|Mon 20| 06:16a 09:21p 15:05 | 10:41p 04:56a | Set 12:17a 45%|
|Tue 21| 06:17a 09:20p 15:03 | 10:39p 04:57a |F Qtr Set 12:39a 55%|
|Wed 22| 06:18a 09:19p 15:01 | 10:38p 04:58a | Set 01:04a 65%|
|Thu 23| 06:19a 09:18p 14:59 | 10:37p 05:00a | Set 01:36a 74%|
|Fri 24| 06:20a 09:17p 14:57 | 10:35p 05:01a | Set 02:15a 81%|
|Sat 25| 06:21a 09:16p 14:55 | 10:34p 05:03a | Set 03:03a 88%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 26| 06:22a 09:15p 14:52 | 10:33p 05:04a | Set 04:00a 94%|
|Mon 27| 06:23a 09:14p 14:50 | 10:31p 05:06a | Set 05:04a 97%|
|Tue 28| 06:24a 09:13p 14:48 | 10:30p 05:07a | Set 06:11a 100%|
|Wed 29| 06:25a 09:12p 14:46 | 10:28p 05:08a |Full Rise 09:30p 100%|
|Thu 30| 06:26a 09:10p 14:44 | 10:26p 05:10a | Rise 09:52p 98%|
|Fri 31| 06:27a 09:09p 14:41 | 10:25p 05:11a | Rise 10:12p 94%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS app.
Ephemeris: 06/29/2026 – Red stars large and small
This is Ephemeris for Monday, June 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:00. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 9:53 this evening.
There are two kinds of red stars very bright ones and very dim ones. The bright red ones are very few. One of them in the evening sky now is Antares in the heart of Scorpius the scorpion. Another one is in the winter sky and the most famous red giant of all, Betelgeuse in the shoulder of Orion the hunter. These are giant stars have exhausted the hydrogen in their cores to produce helium and are working on helium or even heavier elements fusing them to still heavier elements at even higher temperatures to keep them alive, but since they are working on the ash of the previous reaction, they won’t last very long, and the star dies, possibly cataclysmically. The higher internal heat bloats the star to be, huge, making its outer layers are actually cooler.
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: 06/26/2026 – How do we know so much about those points of lights in the sky?
This is Ephemeris for Friday, June 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:59. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 3:37 tomorrow morning.
All but a handful of stars are mere points in even our largest telescopes. How do we know so much about them then? The reason is the science of spectroscopy, breaking down light into its constituent colors where color equals frequency or the energy of the light. Isaac Newton was the first to discover that by passing white light through a prism it turned into a rainbow of colors that the colors were actually combined within the white light. Passing sunlight through a vertical slit and smearing the light horizontally with the prism into its constituent colors, many dark vertical lines within that spectrum of colors appear. They turned out to be the fingerprints of the elements within the atmospheres of the stars, and that is just the beginning.
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: 06/25/2026 – The color of stars
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, June 25th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:58. The Moon, halfway from first quarter to full, will set at 3:03 tomorrow morning.
Looking out at the night sky casually, the first impression is that the stars all appear to be white. Closer inspection shows that some appear with tinges of red or orange or maybe yellow while other stars have a bluish cast to them. The color of stars is due to their surface temperature which physicists call black body radiation. A rainbow is a spectrum of colors from red through orange yellow green blue and violet. These colors represent the different wavelengths of light. The peak wavelength determines the star’s surface temperature. The Sun’s in the green in the middle of our visual field. Cooler stars have their peak in the red, while hotter stars have their peak output to the blue end of the spectrum.
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: 06/24/2026 – Where are the naked-eye planets this week?
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, June 24th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:58. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 2:36 tomorrow morning.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. By 10:30 PM tonight, nearly an hour after sunset, Venus and Jupiter are seen in the western sky, with Jupiter below and right of the brighter Venus. Mercury, though being just above the horizon at that time, is completely overcome by the twilight. A telescope will show a very tiny gibbous disc of Venus, because it is still pretty much beyond the Sun, 102 million miles (164 million kilometers) away from us. Over the next 4 months it will be moving closer to us and becoming much larger. In the morning, Saturn will rise at 1:52 AM, followed by dimmer Mars nearly 2 hours later. The Earth is now chasing down Mars, and soon the launch window will open to send spacecraft to the Red Planet.
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: 06/23/2026 – How the Sun sizes up to other stars
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 23rd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:58. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 2:13 tomorrow morning.
Stars big and small, where does the Sun rank? It depends on the criteria. As far as mass goes, it’s pretty much in the middle. One can’t get stars much more than 20 times the mass of the Sun stars or stars less than a 10th the mass of the sun. As far as brightness goes, there are stars 100,000 times brighter than the sun and stars hundreds of times dimmer. All the stars that you can see with the naked eye, with very few exceptions, are all brighter than the sun intrinsically. As far as size goes from the largest and smallest, the sun ranks near the bottom, in a range from 1,000% down to 15% the sun’s diameter. Don’t feel bad about the sun’s ranking. Stars like the sun in mass, which determines those other qualities, live long enough for life like us to evolve.
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: 06/22/2026 – Will SpaceX and Blue Origin be ready for Artemis 3?
This is Ephemeris for Monday, June 22nd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:57. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 1:53 tomorrow morning.
NASA and it’s partners SpaceX and Blue Origin are having problems on their way back to the Moon. On April 28th, Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket blew up doing a static firing of its engines, destroying the rocket and severely damaging the launch pad, the only one they had. History has shown that launch pads take a year or more to rebuild. The New Glen Rocket is to launch their moon lander. SpaceX had a partially successful flight of their Starship, but had loss of engines, and didn’t perform an in space relight of a starship engine, to prove they could deorbit it. These two companies are suppliers of the lunar landers, prototypes of which must be ready next year for the Artemis 3 mission and a real lander must be ready in 2028 to stay on schedule.
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
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 