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Ephemeris: 03/04/2024 – The evening skies are a-changing
This is Ephemeris for Monday, March 4th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 6:35, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:12. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 4:30 tomorrow morning.
Tonight at 8 pm Orion is in the south. This will be the last month that we will be able to enjoy Orion in the evening sky, because by month’s end he will begin to dip low in the west in the evening twilight. Even though it’s not quite spring, the central constellation of that season, Leo the lion, is already rising in the east. It has cleared the horizon at 8 this evening. The backwards question mark of Leo’s head, mane and front part of his body is easily spotted in the east now with the bright star Regulus at the bottom. The Big Dipper is in the northeast, also rising higher, and signaling via the Anishinaabek constellation there of the Fisher Star, announcing the maple sugaring season.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Looking to the east-southeast at 8 pm we look at three star groups or constellations. From left to right we have the Big Dipper and the Fisher Star in the northeast. Centered in the east we have Leo the lion. And on the right, just west of south, we have Orion the central winter constellation. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Credit: Stellarium, and using LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Ephemeris: 01/30/2024 – The Winter Maker moves to center stage at midwinter
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 5:48, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:03. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 10:53 this evening.
As we approach midwinter looking in the south at about 9 pm we see the great constellation of Orion the hunter. For the Anishinaabek people, who are native to our Great Lakes area, that constellation is the Wintermaker. Instead of holding a club and a shield, as Orion does, he has his arms outstretched from Aldebaran in Taurus to Procyon in Canis Minor embracing all the winter constellations. I’ve first seen him as morning twilight started when I’ve stayed up all night to watch the Perseid meteor shower in August. We begin to see him on late November evenings, rising in the east, to herald the coming of winter, and we will lose him in April when he descends into the West in the evening twilight.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 11/24/2023 – Thoughts on Native American Heritage Day
This is Ephemeris for Native American Heritage Day, Friday, November 24th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 5:07, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:52. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:51 tomorrow morning.
My Heritage is from Northern and Eastern Europe, not one particular country. I have no desire to go or to learn too much more about The Old Countries. And growing up, I grew up in a white neighborhood went to white schools because people of other ethnicities didn’t live in our part of town so we had no mixing of cultures. So I grew up as an American with American cultural values, whatever that is. It was rather late in life, actually doing this program, that I got very interested in the culture of the Native Americans in our area the Anishinaabe, whose groups around here are the Chippewa, or Ojibwe and the Odawa, or Ottawa and learned of their stories and legends, especially those involving sky lore. I find it very interesting and just as rich as the culture we got from the Romans and Greeks. So from time to time on this program I’ll talk about various constellations and stories of our Native American neighbors.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 10/17/2023 – How the Fisher paints the trees with their fall colors
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 17th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 6:55, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:01. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 8:12 this evening.
The tree leaves are beginning to turn to reds and yellows as we advance into autumn. The native Anishinaabek peoples, whose homeland we share, have a story about how that came to be. Of how a magical weasel-like creature called the Fisher or, in their native language, Ojiig, brought summer to the Earth from Skyland. For his trouble, he was shot with an arrow in his only vulnerable spot, his tail. As he fell to Earth Gichi Manitou, the Great Spirit, caught him and placed him in the sky where we see the Great Bear and the Big Dipper. Every late autumn night we see his tail, the handle of the dipper, slowly swooping down to the horizon where his bloody tail paints the trees with their autumn colors.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
For my take on how the Fisher brought summer to the Earth, click here.
Extra: About last Saturday’s partial solar eclipse
Last Saturday I went to the Betsie Valley District Library in Thompsonville, MI for the partial solar eclipse that was visible from that location. Unfortunately, it was cloudy. It wasn’t solid clouds, so there probably was a chance at seeing something. What I did was to give an alternate program about the total solar eclipses I’ve traveled to since 1963, and a look at next April’s total solar eclipse. I was getting ready to finish up when I noticed that there were shadows outside. That meant that the Sun was out. We stopped there and went outside and got to witness at least the maximum part of the eclipse. We had about 15 minutes before the clouds came in again. So we were able to see at least part of this partial eclipse.
Ephemeris: 09/14/2023 – The stars of Cygnus the swan represent a few different figures
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, September 14th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 35 minutes, setting at 7:55, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:21. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.
Nearly directly overhead in the evening is the bright star Deneb, part of the Summer Triangle of bright stars It’s at the top of the Northern Cross, an informal constellation or asterism. It makes a perfectly proportioned Christian cross. Deneb is also the tail of Cygnus the swan, seen flying southward through the Milky Way with its neck outstretched. Extra stars added to the Northern Cross extend the wings nicely. To the Anishinaabe native peoples of our area the stars here also represent two constellations, both are birds. The first is Ajijaak, the Sand Hill crane, The other is Bineshi Okanin, the Skeleton Bird, so named probably because the stars make a stick figure of a bird rather than an outline of one.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 