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Ephemeris: 10/14/2024 – The One Who Came From a Shooting Star
This is Ephemeris for Indigenous Peoples Day, Monday, October 14th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 1 minute, setting at 6:58, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:58. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:24 tomorrow morning.
I’ll relate it to our comet. Comets are the cause of meteor showers. However, our current comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will never produce a meteor shower for us because its orbit doesn’t come close to the Earth’s. The closest it gets is half the distance to the Sun which it did five days ago.
The Anishinaabek have a story about how the Wolverine got its name, in their language, gwiingwa’aage, which means “The One Who Came From a Shooting Star”. An evil star spirit crashed to Earth and created a crater in what is now northern Quebec. Later it filled with water, and sometime later this ill-tempered creature crawled out of it. The University of Michigan’s teams are called the Wolverines, even though the wolverine is not native to Michigan.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 10/11/2024 – Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS may be visible as early as tonight
This is Ephemeris for Friday, October 11th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 7:04, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:55. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 1:22 tomorrow morning.
While I think the first time the spot Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be tomorrow night, sharp-eyed observers with binoculars might be able to find the comet tonight just about due west near the horizon after 7:30 PM it will be a difficult task being so close to the sun The comet will set at 8:09 PM, however if the tail is bright enough it may still be visible. The comet’s tail should be relatively short since it’s actually pointing back towards us. That may also make the tail somewhat brighter since we’re looking down through the thicker part of the tail rather than through its side. I’ve seen a lot of comets in my time, the first ones in 1957. There were two bright comets that year.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 10/10/2024 – Where did Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS come from?
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, October 10th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 7:05, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:53. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 12:05 tomorrow morning.
The comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will get far enough from the direction of the Sun so we can see it in the evening this weekend. It comes from the Oort Cloud of comets in the far reaches of the solar system probably extends maybe three quarters* of the way to the nearest other star to us Alpha Centauri. Somebody figured out that it has an orbital period of around 80,000 years. Every few million years or so a star comes close enough to the Sun to stir up the comets in the Oort Cloud, sending some of them out escaping the Sun and some sent in towards the inner solar system. This of course is one of the latter. No two comets are exactly alike so they’re quite unpredictable. Some have a lot of dust and some are mostly frozen gases.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
* On the radio program I stated a “quarter of the way”.
Addendum
The Oort Cloud is named after Jan Oort, a Dutch astronomer, who proposed a cloud of comets in 1950 as the source of long period comets. The cloud would extend from 2,000 to 200,000 times Earth’s distance from the Sun. The shape of the cloud is roughly spherical. Comet encounters with Jupiter can cause them to become short period comets, or be ejected from the solar system.
Ephemeris: 10/09/2024 – Where are the naked-eye planets this week?
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, October 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 7:07, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:52. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 10:57 this evening.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Venus might be spotted in the West southwest only 7° above the horizon at 8 PM, 55 minutes after sunset. It will set at 8:23. Saturn will be in the southeast at that time. Saturn may look disappointing in telescopes this year since its rings are nearly edge on and appearing as a line through the planet like it’s stapled onto the sky. Jupiter and Mars will be up in the morning sky, with Jupiter rising about 10:08 PM in the east-northeast. By 7 AM tomorrow, Jupiter will be brighter than any of the winter stars high in the south. Mars, with its reddish hue, will be to the left of Jupiter. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be in the western evening sky starting this weekend. It is expected to be quite bright, I’m betting with a broad tail.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 10/08/2024 – Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS may be brighter than expected
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 7:09, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:51. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 10:00 this evening.
You are going to hear a lot about a bright comet visible in the evening starting this weekend. The comet with a long name Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will begin to be visible in the evening sky, and it will be very bright. It will be the brightest comet we’ve had in some time visible in the Northern Hemisphere since Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. The reason for this comet’s great brightness is that the comet is passing between the Earth and the Sun. This comet is very dusty with an extensive dust tail. Since the comet is passing between the Earth and Sun the dust scatters sunlight in a forward direction like seeing sunbeams through holes in the clouds near sunset. This is making the comet brighter than originally predicted.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 10/07/2024 – Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be visible starting Saturday Night
This is Ephemeris for Monday, October 7th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 7:11, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:50. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 9:15 this evening.
In January of last year a Chinese observatory discovered a comet which was subsequently lost. A month and a half later another observatory in South Africa rediscovered it. That’s why the comet is named, Tsuchinshan-ATLAS after the two observatories. It was soon learned that the comet had a chance of becoming visible to the unaided eye in late September and October 2024, this month. Despite having a dimming episode earlier this year the comet promises to be naked eye and possibly even spectacular. The comet is moving from the south to the north and in a direction counter to the orbiting planets around the Sun. We will begin to see it low in the West after sunset starting Saturday.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
The comet will pass almost directly between the Earth and the Sun on the evening of the 9th. It’ll be about halfway between the Earth and the Sun at that point. It should be picked up by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite (SOHO) which is orbiting the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrange point a million miles sunward from the Earth with its C3 coronagraph*. Then the comet’s tail should be pointing almost directly at the Earth. As the comet swings out away from the Sun it will also be more rapidly moving away from Earth. This is because the comet has an orbit that is counter to that of the orbits of the Earth and the rest of the planets around the Sun and will rapidly fade as it increases its distance.
A note on the discovery designation: C/2023 A3 is C for comet; 2023, the year of discovery; A3, third object reportedly discovered in the first half of January.
The SOHO Real-time GIF Movies webpage is: https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/gif/. Select LASCO/C3. It provides a time-lapse image of the Sun’s corona taken at hourly intervals for about the last 4 days.
Ephemeris: 10/04/2024 – GTAS meeting & star party tonight
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Friday, October 4th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 7:16, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:46. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 7:51 this evening. | The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will host its October meeting tonight at 8:00 PM at Northwestern Michigan College’s Joseph H Rogers Observatory, featuring the society’s Library Telescope program. For over five years now the society has given small telescopes to a number of local libraries and branches to lend out. It has been quite successful. After the meeting, about 9 PM if it’s clear, there will be viewing of the heavens through the observatory’s telescopes, featuring Saturn and the wonders of the Milky Way, including nebulae, open and globular star clusters, containing hundreds to hundreds of thousands of stars. The observatory is located on Birmley Rd. South of Traverse City between Garfield and Keystone roads.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 10/03/2024 – Capella rising
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, October 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 7:18, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:45. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 7:33 this evening.
There is a bright star low in the northeast these evenings. It doesn’t seem to be rising very much over the course of the evening. This star is Capella, whose name means “little goat” and is part of the constellation Auriga the charioteer, which won’t completely rise for until about 11 PM. Capella is a circumpolar star meaning it appears to go around the North Pole of the sky, in a circle, as the Earth rotates but never sets. This is true for the Interlochen/Traverse City area and for latitudes north of the city of Ludington. Capella is slowly rising from the bottom of its circumpolar circle in the north, so it’s moving more horizontally than it is rising up. This motion was suspicious to one person who called me, who wondered what it was.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 10/02/2024 – Taking our weekly look at where the naked-eye planets are
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, October 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 7:20, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:43. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Venus might be spotted in the West southwest only 7° above the horizon at 7:45 PM, 35 minutes after sunset. It will set at 8:30. Saturn will be low in the east-southeast at that time, but you might have to wait another half hour for it to appear. Saturn may look disappointing in telescopes this year since its rings are nearly edge on and appearing as a line through the planet like it’s stapled onto the sky. Jupiter and Mars will be up in the morning sky, with Jupiter rising about 10:30 PM now in the east-northeast and by 7 AM tomorrow, Jupiter will be brighter than the winter stars high in the south. Mars will be left of Jupiter. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is very low in the east at that hour, but probably too faint to spot.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 10/01/2024 – Previewing the skies of October
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 40 minutes, setting at 7:22, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:42. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:30 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the skies for the month of October. The Sun will still be moving south rapidly. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 11 hours and 40 minutes today to 10 hours, 11 minutes at month’s end. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees today, and will descend to 31 degrees on Halloween, also in the Interlochen area. Sunrise times will increase from 7:41 today all the way to 8:20 a.m. in Interlochen and Traverse City on the 31st. Sunset times will decrease from 7:22 p.m. today to 6:32 on Halloween.
The big event of October will be the appearance of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in the evening sky which may become quite bright, but being a comet, all bets are off until you actually see it. It will become visible in the evening sky starting October 12th.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
October path of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS
October Evening Star Chart
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that 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.
October Morning Star Chart
or 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.
- Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus.
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
- DracR – Draconid Radiant – Peaks the 8th – Zenithal Hourly Rate < 10 with rare outbursts of a thousand an hour. It’s hindered this year by the full moon.
- OriR – Orionid Radiant – Peak 21st – Zenithal Hourly Rate = 20
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2024-10-01 | 6h06m | 6h40m | 20h28m | 21h03m | 21h03m | 6h06m | 0.00 |
| 2024-10-02 | 6h07m | 6h41m | 20h27m | 21h01m | 21h01m | 6h07m | 0.00 |
| 2024-10-03 | 6h08m | 6h42m | 20h25m | 20h59m | 20h59m | 6h08m | 0.02 |
| 2024-10-04 | 6h09m | 6h43m | 20h23m | 20h57m | 20h57m | 6h09m | 0.05 |
| 2024-10-05 | 6h11m | 6h45m | 20h21m | 20h55m | 20h55m | 6h11m | 0.10 |
| 2024-10-06 | 6h12m | 6h46m | 20h19m | 20h53m | 20h53m | 6h12m | 0.17 |
| 2024-10-07 | 6h13m | 6h47m | 20h17m | 20h51m | 21h15m | 6h13m | 0.25 |
| 2024-10-08 | 6h14m | 6h48m | 20h16m | 20h50m | 22h01m | 6h14m | 0.34 |
| 2024-10-09 | 6h16m | 6h50m | 20h14m | 20h48m | 22h58m | 6h16m | 0.44 |
| 2024-10-10 | 6h17m | 6h51m | 20h12m | 20h46m | – | 6h17m | 0.55 |
| 2024-10-11 | 6h18m | 6h52m | 20h10m | 20h44m | 0h06m | 6h18m | 0.65 |
| 2024-10-12 | 6h19m | 6h53m | 20h09m | 20h43m | 1h22m | 6h19m | 0.76 |
| 2024-10-13 | 6h21m | 6h54m | 20h07m | 20h41m | 2h42m | 6h21m | 0.85 |
| 2024-10-14 | 6h22m | 6h56m | 20h05m | 20h39m | 4h03m | 6h22m | 0.92 |
| 2024-10-15 | 6h23m | 6h57m | 20h04m | 20h37m | 5h25m | 6h23m | 0.98 |
| 2024-10-16 | 6h24m | 6h58m | 20h02m | 20h36m | – | – | 1.00 |
| 2024-10-17 | 6h26m | 6h59m | 20h00m | 20h34m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2024-10-18 | 6h27m | 7h01m | 19h55m | 20h33m | – | – | 0.96 |
| 2024-10-19 | 6h28m | 7h02m | 19h53m | 20h31m | – | – | 0.89 |
| 2024-10-20 | 6h29m | 7h03m | 19h52m | 20h29m | 20h29m | 20h40m | 0.81 |
| 2024-10-21 | 6h31m | 7h04m | 19h50m | 20h28m | 20h28m | 21h36m | 0.72 |
| 2024-10-22 | 6h32m | 7h05m | 19h49m | 20h26m | 20h26m | 22h41m | 0.62 |
| 2024-10-23 | 6h33m | 7h07m | 19h47m | 20h25m | 20h25m | 23h51m | 0.51 |
| 2024-10-24 | 6h34m | 7h08m | 19h46m | 20h23m | 20h23m | – | 0.41 |
| 2024-10-25 | 6h35m | 7h09m | 19h44m | 20h22m | 20h22m | 1h01m | 0.32 |
| 2024-10-26 | 6h37m | 7h10m | 19h43m | 20h21m | 20h21m | 2h10m | 0.23 |
| 2024-10-27 | 6h38m | 7h12m | 19h42m | 20h19m | 20h19m | 3h16m | 0.16 |
| 2024-10-28 | 6h39m | 7h13m | 19h40m | 20h18m | 20h18m | 4h19m | 0.10 |
| 2024-10-29 | 6h40m | 7h14m | 19h39m | 20h17m | 20h17m | 5h22m | 0.05 |
| 2024-10-30 | 6h41m | 7h15m | 19h37m | 20h15m | 20h15m | 6h25m | 0.02 |
| 2024-10-31 | 6h43m | 7h16m | 19h36m | 20h14m | 20h14m | 6h43m | 0.00 |
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
Date Time Event
Oct 1 Tu Venus: 31.4° E
2 We 7:52 am Moon Descending Node
2 We 2:46 pm Annular Solar Eclipse
2 We 2:49 pm New Moon
2 We 3:40 pm Moon Apogee: 406500 km
5 Sa 4:26 pm Moon-Venus: 3.3° N
7 Mo 2:48 pm Moon-Antares: .2° N
9 We 7:53 am Moon South Dec.: 28.7° S
10 Th 2:55 pm First Quarter
14 Mo 2:05 pm Moon-Saturn: .1° S
16 We 3:05 am Moon Ascending Node
16 We 8:46 pm Moon Perigee: 357200 km
17 Th 7:26 am Full Moon
18 Fr 7:50 pm Mars-Pollux: 5.7° S
19 Sa 3:59 pm Moon-Pleiades: .1° S
21 Mo 1:58 am Orionid Shower: ZHR = 20
21 Mo 8:50 pm Moon North Dec.: 28.7° N
23 We 1:16 pm Moon-Pollux: 1.8° N
23 We 3:55 pm Moon-Mars: 4.2° S
24 Th 4:03 am Last Quarter
24 Th 1:35 pm Moon-Beehive: 3.3° S
25 Fr 7:43 pm Venus-Antares: 3.1° N
29 Tu 12:44 pm Moon Descending Node
29 Tu 5:50 pm Moon Apogee: 406200 km
Nov 1 Fr Venus: 38.2° E
All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving Time.
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 Times
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
October, 2024 Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM |
| | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Tue 1| 07:41a 07:22p 11:40 | 08:25p 06:38a | Rise 07:30a 1%|
|Wed 2| 07:42a 07:20p 11:37 | 08:23p 06:39a |New Set 07:16p 0%|
|Thu 3| 07:43a 07:18p 11:34 | 08:21p 06:40a | Set 07:33p 1%|
|Fri 4| 07:45a 07:16p 11:31 | 08:19p 06:42a | Set 07:51p 4%|
|Sat 5| 07:46a 07:14p 11:28 | 08:17p 06:43a | Set 08:13p 9%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 6| 07:47a 07:13p 11:25 | 08:15p 06:44a | Set 08:40p 15%|
|Mon 7| 07:48a 07:11p 11:22 | 08:14p 06:45a | Set 09:15p 23%|
|Tue 8| 07:50a 07:09p 11:19 | 08:12p 06:47a | Set 10:00p 32%|
|Wed 9| 07:51a 07:07p 11:16 | 08:10p 06:48a | Set 10:57p 42%|
|Thu 10| 07:52a 07:05p 11:13 | 08:08p 06:49a |F Qtr Set 12:05a 52%|
|Fri 11| 07:53a 07:04p 11:10 | 08:07p 06:50a | Set 01:22a 63%|
|Sat 12| 07:55a 07:02p 11:07 | 08:05p 06:51a | Set 02:41a 73%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 13| 07:56a 07:00p 11:04 | 08:03p 06:53a | Set 04:03a 83%|
|Mon 14| 07:57a 06:58p 11:01 | 08:02p 06:54a | Set 05:24a 91%|
|Tue 15| 07:58a 06:57p 10:58 | 08:00p 06:55a | Set 06:47a 97%|
|Wed 16| 08:00a 06:55p 10:55 | 07:58p 06:56a | Set 08:11a 100%|
|Thu 17| 08:01a 06:53p 10:52 | 07:57p 06:58a |Full Rise 06:53p 100%|
|Fri 18| 08:02a 06:52p 10:49 | 07:55p 06:59a | Rise 07:21p 96%|
|Sat 19| 08:04a 06:50p 10:46 | 07:54p 07:00a | Rise 07:55p 91%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 20| 08:05a 06:48p 10:43 | 07:52p 07:01a | Rise 08:40p 83%|
|Mon 21| 08:06a 06:47p 10:40 | 07:50p 07:02a | Rise 09:35p 74%|
|Tue 22| 08:08a 06:45p 10:37 | 07:49p 07:04a | Rise 10:40p 64%|
|Wed 23| 08:09a 06:44p 10:34 | 07:47p 07:05a | Rise 11:50p 53%|
|Thu 24| 08:10a 06:42p 10:31 | 07:46p 07:06a |L Qtr Rise 01:01a 43%|
|Fri 25| 08:12a 06:40p 10:28 | 07:45p 07:07a | Rise 02:09a 34%|
|Sat 26| 08:13a 06:39p 10:25 | 07:43p 07:09a | Rise 03:15a 25%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 27| 08:14a 06:37p 10:23 | 07:42p 07:10a | Rise 04:19a 17%|
|Mon 28| 08:16a 06:36p 10:20 | 07:40p 07:11a | Rise 05:22a 11%|
|Tue 29| 08:17a 06:34p 10:17 | 07:39p 07:12a | Rise 06:24a 6%|
|Wed 30| 08:18a 06:33p 10:14 | 07:38p 07:14a | Rise 07:28a 2%|
|Thu 31| 08:20a 06:32p 10:11 | 07:36p 07:15a | Rise 08:34a 0%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 