Archive

Archive for the ‘Calendar’ Category

01/31/2013 – Ephemeris – Preview of February Skies

January 31, 2013 Comments off

Ephemeris for Thursday, January 31st.  The sun will rise at 8:02.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:50.   The moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:06 this evening.

February is the shortest month, even so the daylight hours through out the month will be getting longer.  Daylight hours will increase from 9 hours and 50 minutes tomorrow to 11 hours and 7 minutes on the 28th.  The sunrise time will decrease from 8:00 tomorrow to 7:21 at months end.  The sunset times will increase from 5:51 tomorrow to 6:28 on the 28th.  Along with that the altitude of the sun at noon will increase from 28 degrees today to nearly 38 degrees at month’s end.  It will be a degree lower 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 is about 12:55 p.m. We are expecting clearer skies later this month as the lakes cool.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Ephemeris of Sky Events for NMC Observatory, Traverse City MI
February, 2013 – Local time zone: EST
Date Sun Twilight* Moon Illum
Rise Set Hours End Start Phase R/S** Time Fractn
Fri 1 08:00a 05:51p 09:50 07:31p 06:20a Rise 12:15a 67%
Sat 2 07:59a 05:53p 09:53 07:33p 06:19a Rise 01:25a 57%
Sun 3 07:58a 05:54p 09:55 07:34p 06:18a L Qtr Rise 02:34a 45%
Mon 4 07:57a 05:56p 09:58 07:35p 06:17a Rise 03:41a 34%
Tue 5 07:56a 05:57p 10:01 07:36p 06:16a Rise 04:42a 24%
Wed 6 07:54a 05:58p 10:03 07:38p 06:15a Rise 05:36a 15%
Thu 7 07:53a 06:00p 10:06 07:39p 06:14a Rise 06:22a 7%
Fri 8 07:52a 06:01p 10:09 07:40p 06:13a Rise 07:01a 2%
Sat 9 07:50a 06:03p 10:12 07:41p 06:12a Rise 07:36a 0%
Sun 10 07:49a 06:04p 10:15 07:43p 06:11a New Set 06:58p 1%
Mon 11 07:48a 06:05p 10:17 07:44p 06:09a Set 08:09p 4%
Tue 12 07:46a 06:07p 10:20 07:45p 06:08a Set 09:17p 9%
Wed 13 07:45a 06:08p 10:23 07:46p 06:07a Set 10:23p 16%
Thu 14 07:43a 06:10p 10:26 07:48p 06:05a Set 11:27p 24%
Fri 15 07:42a 06:11p 10:29 07:49p 06:04a Set 12:29a 33%
Sat 16 07:40a 06:12p 10:32 07:50p 06:03a Set 01:28a 42%
Sun 17 07:39a 06:14p 10:35 07:51p 06:01a F Qtr Set 02:23a 51%
Mon 18 07:37a 06:15p 10:38 07:53p 06:00a Set 03:15a 61%
Tue 19 07:36a 06:17p 10:41 07:54p 05:58a Set 04:01a 70%
Wed 20 07:34a 06:18p 10:43 07:55p 05:57a Set 04:43a 78%
Thu 21 07:32a 06:19p 10:46 07:57p 05:55a Set 05:21a 85%
Fri 22 07:31a 06:21p 10:49 07:58p 05:54a Set 05:55a 91%
Sat 23 07:29a 06:22p 10:52 07:59p 05:52a Set 06:26a 96%
Sun 24 07:27a 06:23p 10:55 08:01p 05:51a Set 06:54a 99%
Mon 25 07:26a 06:25p 10:58 08:02p 05:49a Full Rise 06:40p 100%
Tue 26 07:24a 06:26p 11:02 08:03p 05:47a Rise 07:47p 98%
Wed 27 07:22a 06:27p 11:05 08:04p 05:46a Rise 08:56p 95%
Thu 28 07:21a 06:29p 11:08 08:06p 05:44a Rise 10:06p 89%
* Astronomical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise

 

Categories: Calendar, Ephemeris Program, Month preview Tags:

12/21/2012 – Ephemeris – Well, we’re still here

December 21, 2012 Comments off

Ephemeris for Friday, December 21st.  The sun will rise at 8:16.  It’ll be up for 8 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:05.   The moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 2:53 tomorrow morning.

Well, we’re still here.  The winter solstice arrived at 6:12 this morning, and nothing happened.  There’s no planetary alignment.  The supposed alignment with the center of the galaxy, which is 6 degrees off anyway was at its closest 15 years ago.   And the supposed planet Nibiru that was to collide with the earth or interfere with the earth somehow,  hasn’t shown up.  Even we amateur astronomers would have seen it for at least the last 5 years.  To those who say its sneaking up on us from behind the sun.  I say we have spacecraft flying all over the solar system, so we don’t have any blind spots for it to hide in.  So I wonder when the next prediction of the end of the world will pop up, to which I will sigh:  “Not again.”

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The sun at the winter solstice 2012.

The sun at the winter solstice 2012. The horizontal line is the sun’s path, the ecliptic, while the diagonal line is the galactic equator. Sagittarius A is the location of the center of the galaxy some 26,000 light years away behind a black cloud of dust and gas.  Created using Cartes du Ciel.

Categories: Bad Astronomy, Calendar, Ephemeris Program Tags: , , ,

02/27/2012 – Ephemeris – The Leap or Intercalary Day

February 27, 2012 Comments off

Ephemeris for Monday, February 27th. The sun will rise at 7:24. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 2 minutes, setting at 6:26. The moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 12:37 tomorrow morning.

Wednesday we’re going to have one of those special days that only occur once every 4 years making this a leap year. It’s the intercalary day that compensates for that fact that the earth takes 365 and nearly a quarter day to orbit the sun. That orbit is a year, and those quarter days are accumulated and added as the last day of February on years divisible by 4. The Gregorian reform makes a slight adjustment on most century years, making century years not divisible by 400 ordinary years to keep the calendar in sync with the seasons. The Romans, from who we’ve gotten our calendar considered the month of February as unlucky, and so they shortened it. Enjoy your extra day Wednesday. * Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Categories: Astronomical History, Calendar, Ephemeris Program Tags: , ,

02/02/2012 – Ephemeris – February 2nd isn’t just for groundhogs

February 2, 2012 Comments off

Ephemeris for Groundhog Day, Thursday, February 2nd.  The sun will rise at 8:00.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 5:52.   The moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 4:39 tomorrow morning.

I’m not sure if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow this morning or not, but February 2nd was a special day to the ancients.  It is also Candlemas day for the Catholic Church.  It is also celebrated as a cross-quarter day.  The middle of the season of Winter, though the exact date of the middle of winter is the 4th.  And if Phil sees his shadow and we do get 6 more weeks of winters, that’s OK too.  By the calendar it actually more like 7 weeks to the vernal or spring equinox and the official end of winter.  Of the other cross-quarter days, only one stands out today.  It’s May 1st, May Day.  The way this year has been going, winter has had a hard time getting started.  The temperatures are above normal and the snowfall below normal.

* Times, as always are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of  Michigan.

Categories: Calendar, Ephemeris Program, Events Tags: ,